Freedom-class littoral combat ship

launcher on the hangar Planning for a class of small, multipurpose warships to operate in the littoral zone began in the early 2000s. The construction contract was awarded to Lockheed Martin's LCS team (Lockheed Martin, Gibbs & Cox, Marinette Marine, Bollinger Shipyards) in May 2004 for two vessels. These would then be compared to two ships built by Austal USA to determine which design would be taken up by the Navy for a production run of up to fifty-five ships. On 15 April 2003, the Lockheed Martin LCS team unveiled their Sea Blade concept based on the hull form of the motor yacht Destriero. The keel of the lead ship was laid down in June 2005, by Marinette Marine in Marinette, Wisconsin. She was christened in September 2006, delivered to the Navy in September 2008, and commissioned that November. During INSURV trials, 2,600 discrepancies were discovered, including 21 considered high-priority. Not all of these were rectified before the ship entered service, as moving the ship away from Milwaukee before the winter freeze was considered a higher priority. Cost overruns during Freedoms construction combined with projected future overruns led the government to issue a "stop-work" in January 2007 and ultimately led to the cancellation of construction of LCS-3 (the second Freedom class ship) on 13 April 2007. This ship was later reordered. After much inconsistency on how testing and orders were to proceed, in November 2010, the Navy asked that Congress approve 10 each of the Freedom and Independence variants. ==Design==

The ship is a semiplaning steel monohull with an aluminum superstructure. It is in length, displaces , and can achieve . The design incorporates a large, reconfigurable seaframe to allow rapidly interchangeable mission modules, a flight deck with integrated helicopter launch, recovery and handling system, and the capability to launch and recover boats (manned and unmanned) from both the stern and side. The ship uses a Trigon traversing system to move helicopters in and out of the hangar. The ship has two ways to launch and recover various mission packages: a stern ramp and a starboard side door near the waterline. The mission module bay has a three-axis crane for positioning modules or cargo. The most serious problems with the Freedom class have been with the electrical systems. The fore deck has a modular weapons zone which can be used for a 57 mm gun turret or missile launcher. A Rolling Airframe Missile launcher is mounted above the hangar for short-range defense against aircraft and cruise missiles, and .50-caliber gun mounts are provided topside. The is designed for operations from Freedom-variant ships. The core crew is 40 sailors, usually joined by a mission package crew and an aviation detachment for a total crew around 75. Automation allows a reduced crew, which greatly reduces operating costs, but workload can still be "gruelling". During testing of the class lead, two ship's companies rotated on four-month assignments. Four 750-kilowatt Fincantieri Isotta Fraschini diesel generators provide 3 megawatts of electrical power to power the ship systems. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that fuel would account for only "8 percent to 18 percent" of the total lifecycle costs for the Freedom class. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama called the report into question and suggested that the Independence class, built in his state, would be more fuel efficient and that less frequent refuelings would affect military operations beyond the cost of fuel. In 2012, a Navy cybersecurity team found major deficiencies in Lockheed's Total Ship Computing Environment, which controls the entire ship to reduce crewing requirements. Survivability has been a criticism of both the Freedom and Independence classes, rated at level one by the Navy, compared to level two for the guided-missile frigates (FFG) they were designed to replace. Lockheed claims the Freedom class is actually more survivable than the FFGs because Navy requirements for various survivability levels have changed since the FFGs were assessed, and because the Freedom class hulls are made of high-strength, low-weight steel that was not previously available. was the first Freedom-class ship to be fitted with cavitation performance waterjets (Rolls-Royce Axial-Flow Waterjet Mk-1). The jets create partial vacuums in liquid using an improved impeller blade design. Cavitation jets do not increase the ship's top speed, but deliver 10% greater fuel efficiency with less noise and vibration, reduced lifecycle costs, improved maintainability, increased availability, and potentially improved efficiency at lower speeds. In 2014, the Navy announced plans to add these waterjets to every Freedom variant that is produced. The mixed-flow design was changed to an axial design to push water parallel to the shaft of the impeller. The first ships of both LCS classes were delivered before the designs were mature so that improvements could be built into future ships. Many improvements to the Freedom class came from the problems experienced by Freedom (LCS-1) on the ship's first deployment, including power outages, corroded equipment, and a faulty air compressor. To prevent water from being taken into the anchor windlass room, the anchor winch, hydraulic unit, and mooring capstan were replaced with a single electric chain winch on the main deck, and the existing towing chain was replaced with a lighter chain. Engine maintenance incidents , three of four active Freedom-class ships had suffered maintenance incidents involving the engines and associated propulsion hardware. Milwaukee broke down in the Atlantic Ocean in December 2015 and had to be towed back to port. Metallic debris was found in the filter system. The cause was traced to a clutch between the gas turbine and diesel engine systems, which failed to disengage as designed while switching from one propulsion system to the other. Fort Worth suffered a similar breakdown in the Pacific Ocean in January 2016. Improper procedures used aboard ship caused a set of combining gearshardware used to transfer power to the ship's water propulsion systemto be operated with insufficient oil. And in July 2016, Freedom suffered a seawater leak into one of her two main diesel propulsion systems and had to return to San Diego for seawater decontamination. In January 2021, the Navy halted deliveries of Freedom-class ships due to a design flaw of the ship's combining gear. The Navy, Marinette and the firm that designed the combining gear, Renk AG, were working on an upgrade to address the issue. The Navy announced that, once the upgrade is complete, new deliveries will resume. The Navy predicted it would take months to implement the upgrade to ships already in active service. Commissioning of LCS-21, Minneapolis-St. Paul was thus postponed. The combining gear problem was later fixed and applied to LCS-19 St. Louis and all follow-on ships. LCS-11, 13, 15 and 17 have all begun undergoing repair work or are scheduled to do so. The cost for fixing the defective combining gear is estimated to be between $8 million and $10 million per ship. ==Ships==

Ship orders and naming history In March 2009, the Navy ordered two Freedom-class LCSs, the lead ship Freedom (LCS-1) and , announced by then-Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter. The Freedom class are assigned odd hull numbers. The Independence class have even numbers. In December 2010, the Navy placed a block-buy order of up to 10 additional Freedom-class ships, for a total of 12 ships in the class. In April 2015, the Navy awarded LCS-21 to Lockheed Martin. In April 2016, the Navy awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin for LCS-25, the 13th of the Freedom-class ships. In October 2017, Marinette Marine announced the order to build LCS-27, at a cost under the congressional cost cap of $584 million. In February 2018, Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer named LCS-27 as Nantucket. In September 2018, the Navy ordered two additional Independence-class ships and one Freedom-class ship. In January 2019, the Navy exercised an option in their contract with Lockheed Martin to purchase a single additional Freedom-class ship, numbered LCS-31 and has since been named Cleveland. Ships in class • Note: The Navy has announced that Cleveland LCS-31 will be the last Freedom-class LCS to be built despite placing orders for Independence-class variants numbered LCS-32, LCS-34, LCS-36, and LCS-38. Plan to retire LCS hulls During planning for the FY21 Budget proposal, the Navy recommended the scrapping of the original four hulls (two Freedom class, two Independence class) in 2021, some 10 years ahead of prior planning. This was explained by former Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Mike Gilday, during the WEST Conference in March 2020, when he said: There was also a comment that it would cost another $2 billion to get the first four hulls prepped for sea duty. In May 2021, the Navy confirmed it would decommission the first two littoral combat ships in 2021. In July 2021, the Navy decommissioned . Freedom was decommissioned in September 2021. Both ships will join the reserve fleet. In June 2021, the Navy released an abbreviated long-range shipbuilding report to Congress, which included ships planned to be decommissioned in fiscal year 2022. This included three Freedom class ships, Fort Worth, , and , and the Independence class . All four ships would be placed Out of Commission in Reserve and retained as reactivation candidates. Congress denied the Navy from retiring the three Freedom class ships in Fiscal Year 2022. ==Freedom-class based variants==

Small Surface Combatant variant Lockheed submitted a variety of upgrade options for Freedom-class ships to the Small Surface Combatant Task Force, aimed at transforming the LCS from "niche" platforms into ships with more protection and firepower beyond Flight 0 to survive against more advanced military adversaries. With of space available for mission packages, room is available for added capabilities. Anti-aircraft warfare was suggested with the installation of a SPY-1F air defense radar and permanently installed vertical launch systems (VLS). Current length versions could house four to 32 VLS cells, each holding four RIM-162D Evolved Sea Sparrow missiles or one SM-2 missile. For surface warfare, the gun could be replaced with a larger weapon up to the Mk 45; integration of the AGM-114L Hellfire missile for defense against fast-attack craft was also factored in. The Navy's recommendation to base the Small Surface Combatant on upgraded versions of both Freedom and Independence LCSs was accepted in December 2014. Although Lockheed submitted improvements including vertical launch systems, guns, and advanced combat systems and sensors, the Navy opted to keep the gun, not add a vertical launch system, and chose to add an upgraded 3-D radar. Other changes included installation of an unspecified over-the-horizon missile, Mark 38 guns, a torpedo countermeasures system, a multifunction towed array system, installation of the SeaRAM launcher, an upgraded countermeasures decoy system, an upgraded electronic warfare system, armor added to vital spaces, and improved signature management. The SSC will focus in SUW and ASW with these additions, as well as retaining all other features of their mission packages. The SSC is not required to perform MCM, which will continue to be handled by the LCS. The vessels will retain a degree of modularity to concentrate on one mission set and will still have mission bays, although they may be reduced. SSC vessels are planned to begin procurement by 2019, and whether the enhancements can be added to existing LCS hulls is being investigated. Lockheed has also been working on a trimmed-down version of the Freedom-class LCS to offer on the international market for smaller patrol vessels. This Multi-Mission Combat Ship adds in phased-array radar and a vertical launch system on a smaller hull with a smaller crew size, at the cost of removing the high-speed gas turbines and one-third of the mission module area. A much larger, more capable frigate design was submitted to meet the requirements of the US Navy's proposed FFG(X) program. Although based on the Freedom hull form, it has to be bigger and more heavily armed to meet more demanding mission requirements. In February 2018, this design was one of the five finalists selected to be considered for the 20-ship contract that will be awarded in 2020. In May 2019, Lockheed Martin announced that it won't submit a bid to compete in the design of the Navy's FFG(X), as it elected to focus on its involvement developing the frigate's Aegis-derived COMBATSS-21 combat management system and other systems, such as Mk-41 VLS, processing of ASW area, advanced electronic warfare and platform integration, etc. Rigid-hulled inflatable boats (RHIBs) will be carried amidship to support naval missions in high sea state and the articulating stern ramp is designed to enable fast and safe deployment of boats. Its anti-surface warfare armament includes two quad launchers for RGM-84 Harpoon Block II or similar anti-ship missiles, one MK-15 Mod 31 SeaRAM with 11-cell RIM 116C Block II Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAMs) CIWS, a Mk110 or Mk75 OTO Melara deck gun and medium-caliber rapid-fire guns, such as machine guns, M621 NARWHAL remote-controlled guns or similar. This proposal was rejected in favour of the new FDI-class frigate. ==Foreign sales==

Saudi Arabia Lockheed Martin has offered an Aegis Combat System-equipped variant for national missile defense radar picket use to a number of Persian Gulf states. The Surface Combat Ship was offered to Saudi Arabia as part of a 2011 arms deal. The total cost for the eight ships was reported to be as much as $5 billion. The Saudi Naval Expansion Program II calls for some $20 billion for new warships, which can include up to 12 Freedom-class ships; the Saudis have not looked to purchase Austal's Independence-class ship. The Saudis, as well as other potential foreign buyers, want permanent weapons capabilities built into the ship rather than interchangeable mission packages. Another potential ship under evaluation was the Arleigh Burke class destroyer. The Freedom class would be outfitted with vertical missile launchers and the SPY-1F radar, a smaller and lighter but shorter range version of Arleigh Burkes SPY-1D. A decision between the ships would be based on the desire for a large-hulled ship with a large missile defense system or a larger number of small-hulled multimission ships. The first of four MMSC vessels for the Royal Saudi Navy, named Saud (820), was launched on December 16, 2025, at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin. == See also ==