Navy builds new warships that are built for speed.

[computernerd]

Just saw this:

ATH, Maine – The Navy's need for speed is being answered by a pair of warships that have reached freeway speeds during testing at sea. Independence, a 418-foot warship built in Alabama, boasts a top speed in excess of 45 knots, or about 52 mph, and sustained 44 knots for four hours during builder trials that wrapped up this month off the Gulf Coast. The 378-foot Freedom, a ship built in Wisconsin by a competing defense contractor, has put up similar numbers.
Both versions of the Littoral Combat Ship use powerful diesel engines, as well as gas turbines for extra speed. They use steerable waterjets instead of propellers and rudders and have shallower drafts than conventional warships, letting them zoom close to shore.
The ships, better able to chase down pirates, have been fast-tracked because the Navy wants vessels that can operate in coastal, or littoral, waters. Freedom is due to be deployed next year, two years ahead of schedule.
Independence is an aluminum, tri-hulled warship built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. The lead contractor is Maine's Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics.
Lockheed Martin Corp. is leading the team that built Freedom in Marinette, Wis. It looks more like a conventional warship, with a single hull made of steel.
The stakes are high for both teams. The Navy plans to select Lockheed Martin or General Dynamics, but not both, as the builder. The Navy has ordered one more ship from each of the teams before it chooses the final design. Eventually, the Navy wants to build up to 55 of them.
Speed has long been relished by Navy skippers. Capt. John Paul Jones, sometimes described as father of the U.S. Navy, summed it up this way in 1778: "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."
Eric Wertheim, author and editor of the U.S. Naval Institute's "Guide to Combat Fleets of the World," said speed is a good thing, but it comes at a cost.
"This is really something revolutionary," Wertheim said. "The question is how important and how expensive is this burst of speed?"
Early cost estimates for Littoral Combat Ships were about $220 million apiece, but costs spiraled because of the Navy's requirements and its desire to expedite construction. The cost of the ships is capped at $460 million apiece, starting in the new fiscal year.
Both ships are built to accommodate helicopters and mission "modules" for either anti-submarine missions, mine removal or traditional surface warfare. The modules are designed to be swapped out within 24 hours, allowing the ships to adapt quickly to new missions.
While they're fast, they aren't necessarily the fastest military ships afloat. The Navy used to have missile-equipped hydrofoils and the Marines' air-cushioned landing craft is capable of similar speeds, Wertheim said. And smaller ships are capable of higher speeds.
Nonetheless, the speed is impressive, especially considering that other large naval vessels have been cruising along at a relatively pokey 30 to 35 knots for decades.
Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, noted that Independence sustained 44 knots despite a 30-knot headwind and 6- to 8-foot seas in Alabama's Mobile Bay. "For a ship of this size, it's simply unheard of to sustain that rate of speed for four hours," he said.

Source

[Anlushac11]

Sorry but I felt this needed to be moved to Military and History.

Cool info. USS Freedom (LCS-1) has been commissioned and has been outfitted with weapons but IIRC is not operational.

[Huffardo]

Sounds nice, but not exactly revolutionary. Both water jets and gas turbines are ancient news, not sure if they have been combined in such a large ship before though.
In the 1960s the gas turbine powered pump-jet equipped gunboat FNS Karjala did over 40 knots during tests, but the top speed had to be limited due to the slender aluminum ship being unable to take the forces of sharp turns at full speed. Has the issue that as far as I know has kept gas turbines from being used in the Finnish Navy since, i.e. unacceptable fuel consumption (at full speed the range of the ships was only a few hundred nautical miles), been solved?

[Nemmerle]

What's the advantage of this over say sending a ship's helicopter to get the pirates?

[Anlushac11]

A helicopter can chase pirates but this ship can actually do boardings and take prisoners.

The LCS's ship hosts Helicopters, and can launch and retrieve boats from stern and sides. So it can go close to shore and provide gunfire support, logistics support, and provide rapid insertion and extraction.

Principal capabilities to include shallow-water anti-submarine warfare, mine countermeasures and defense against attacking small boats. LCS ships are to be networked to share tactical information with other units.

The USS Freedom can also operate in very shallow waterways such as rivers which most US ships cant navigate in. The Freedom weighs in at 3,089 tons and draws only 12.7 ft of water and tops out at 47 knots. By comparison the Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates the Littorial Combat ships will replace draw 22ft of water, weighed in at 4,100 tons, and top out at 29 knots.

The LCS-2 USS Independence displaces 2.780 tons, draws 14 ft of water, and tops out at 44 knots. However due to the Trimaran hull it has massive storage capacity and can carry multiple Stryker armored vehiclesmor Hummer's and their crews and has a elevator to move them to the flight deck and can handle and stow a 20 ft shipping container while underway at sea. The LCS-2 can even handle the huge CH-53E Super Sea Stallion helo's.



The size, displacement, and draft of the USS Freedom is very similar to what most other Navies have labeled as Corvette's.

The USS Independence is almost like a freaking escort carrier with guns and missiles and can operate as a transport.

[MrFancypants]

Originally Posted by Nemmerle

What's the advantage of this over say sending a ship's helicopter to get the pirates?

I doubt that it is specifically designed to chase pirates, that's probably just an additional aspect that happens to come in handy in times when the government is tempted to cut a few military projects.

[Anlushac11]

IMHO if they want these ships to operate in coastal areas and in rivers they better allocate a few tons for armor. ATGW's will do nasty things to destroyers and under. They are nicknamed tin cans for a reason.

[Roaming East]

And if they do that they destroy the trim of the ship and render it unable to operate in an environment where the armor was needed to begin with. a ship that large should have better EC anyway. Theres been ways of dazzling spoofing and jamming guided munitions for years. they just tended not to be small enough to fit into a riverine patrol boat.