LCS In Trouble
What happens when a warship isn’t ready for combat? I’ve got some personal experience with that question, and it’s not a comfortable feeling.
Senior Pentagon officials have been asking that same question about the Littoral Combat Ship program, and the future of LCS is in serious doubt as a result. In a memo issued earlier this month, acting deputy defense secretary Christine Fox ordered the Navy to stop LCS production at 32 ships, and begin developing a “more capable surface combatant.”
Her doubts about the program are reinforced by a 2012 report from Rear Admiral Samuel Perez, which questions the ability of both LCS variants to carry out their combat missions, or even to defend themselves against the kinds of threats they can be expected to encounter.
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve got some experience with that situation. In the early eighties, I was stationed aboard a Leahy class guided missile cruiser. Plenty of missiles and anti-air firepower, but no guns. We could defend an aircraft carrier against hostile air power, but our only protection against close-in surface threats consisted of four fifty-cal machine guns. That wasn’t a problem most of the time, because we usually deployed with a carrier battle group. If we got into trouble, there were frigates and destroyers covering our back.
But independent steaming was another matter. If we were operating alone when a surface threat popped up, we were essentially screwed. We could have been cut to ribbons, simply because we didn’t have the right mix of weapons to repel a close-in surface threat.
That never happened while the Leahy class was in service, but those of us who served aboard those ships knew that it could happen. It’s not a good feeling, going into harm’s way with a ship that’s not ready for battle.
The Department of the Navy and the Office of the Secretary of Defense are working on a probation program to re-evaluate and improve the combat capabilities of LCS. I hope they succeed. More importantly, I hope the Littoral Combat Ships turn out to have more resilience than the current evaluations suggest.
Those are our Sailors out there, hanging their lives over the line in defense of our country. They deserve a ship that can fight.
