The US Navy basically admitted that the Littoral Combat Ship looks like a massive failure

[jpak]

http://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-littoral-combat-ship-problems-2018-4?r=UK&IR=T

After 16 years and billions of dollars, the Navy may have finally acknowledged that its Littoral Combat Ship program looks like a miserable failure.

The service "may not" deploy any of the dozen small surface combatants this year despite officials' previous plans to deploy several to join the 7th and 5th Fleets in Singapore and Bahrain respectively, the U.S. Naval Institute first reported on April 11.

Given the embarrassing cost overruns and frequent mechanical failures that have plagued the program, the exquisitely-detailed report suggests that the Navy has run out of patience for the disappointment mill that is the Littoral Combat Ship, once the backbone of the future fleet that could have 355 ships.

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It's clearly not just a matter of organizational chance that's complicated the deployment of the LCS. Not only did the Navy reduce the number of LCSs ordered from Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics back in 2014 out of concerns over the vessel's performance, but a review of the Navy's LCS fleet by the Pentagon's operational testing and evaluation arm, conducted between 2016 and 2017 and published in January 2018, revealed significant structural problems with the program's Freedom and Independence variants.

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[Angry Dragon]

1. Wasted money

[Brother Buzz]

2. The LCS looked great on paper

[Iggo]

3. Who got rich?

[WhiteTara]

6. Not the tax payer.

[hunter]

4. They couldn't even paint the basketball court right...

[oberliner]

5. Just a few tens of billions of dollars down the drain

[msongs]

7. heads should roll (figuratively speaking) and billions in refunds are in order nt

[onethatcares]

8. can an F 35 land on the deck?

this, my friends, is why we can't have nice things.

[lpbk2713]

9. Not without melting the deck.

F-35 ... another colossal boondoggle.

[The River]

10. They Look Like

bathtub toys.

As an old salt, I prefer the classic WW2 era ships. Made of steel without a digital anything. They could take a hit without folding like an aluminum soda can.

[jpak]

11. There was a RIMPAC SINKEX in 2016 - where a Perry class frigate would not die

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/4450/this-retired-perry-class-frigate-just-wont-sink-after-being-severely-pummeled-during-rimpac-16

he US Navy's massive Rim of The Pacific (RIMPAC) multinational exercise is underway off the coast of Hawaii, and part of the biannual drills involves at least one live-fire ship sinking exercise, also known as a SINKEX. This year the decommissioned Oliver Howard Perry class frigate USS Thach (FFG 43) was used for target practice with ships, submarines and aircraft from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the Republic of Korea taking shots at her.

Oliver Howard Perry class frigates are old-school tough fighting ships. In the past they have taken massive mine blasts and stayed afloat. The type continues to serve around the world, and in some cases in greatly enhanced configurations. The video below gives us a reminder of just how damn hardy these ships are. The Thach takes multiple hits from torpedoes and anti-ship missiles and stays upright, even though its aftdeck and foredeck have buckled and the ship’s hull is chocked full of holes.

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We can still build some good warships if we wanted to....

[Kaleva]

12. A new FFG based on the Perry class hull would be a start

[Volaris]

13. Does Lockheed have any previous exp building naval vessels?

If not, who in the blue hell in the Pentagon thought it would be an efficent idea to let them try?

Military equipment is not exactly something you want to beta - test Live...just ssyin'.

[Archae]

14. Doesn't mention something that disappoints me a lot.

These ships are made in Wisconsin.

[jpak]

15. And Alabama

Mobile

[Spider Jerusalem]

16. They don't exactly look to be a credit to the Great Lakes shipbuilding industry (n/t)