The nation’s third Littoral Combat Ship, USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), successfully completed its U.S. Navy acceptance trials and will be delivered to the Navy this summer.
Fort Worth is the second surface combatant designed and built by a Lockheed Martin-led industry team. The trials, conducted in Lake Michigan from April 30 to May 4, included a four-hour full-power run and both surface and air detect-to-engage demonstrations of the ship’s combat management system.
Major systems and features were demonstrated, including aviation support, small boat launch handling and recovery, and ride control.
“Fort Worth performed extremely well during its trials,” said LCS Program Manager Capt. John Neagley. “The ship’s level of completion coupled with Marinette Marine’s excellent craftsmanship resulted in relatively few material deficiencies.”
“Lessons learned from our lead ship, USS Freedom, have directly contributed to the successful Acceptance Trials of our second ship,” said Joe North, vice president of Littoral Ship Systems at Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems and Sensors business.
“As we continue serial production, we’re reducing costs and building these high-quality ships faster.”
Other Freedom-variant LCSs include USS Freedom (LCS 1), which is being prepared for her second deployment; Milwaukee (LCS 5), and Detroit (LCS 7), which are under construction.
The team also is currently in the early stages of planning and material procurement for Little Rock (LCS 9) and Sioux City (LCS 11), which were funded in March 2012.
The Lockheed Martin-led LCS team includes ship builder Marinette Marine Corporation, a Fincantieri company, naval architect Gibbs and Cox, as well as domestic and international teammates.
