I wrote a research paper on the military's cost overruns. The causes included "padding the budget", designing unrealistic equipment and systems, whining to congress that modifications had to be made for extra $, little (if any) oversight or accountability, and the hiring of former government officials and congressmen by almost all the defense contractors. Looks like things haven't changed.....I wrote this paper while I was in college, almost 50 years ago.

Military Procurement Policy 101: - Promise the moon - Budget a blimp - Add another moon - Add another moon - Budget a gold plated blimp - Build several units - See what doesn't work - Fund for a small planet - Subtract a moon - Revise a moon - Fund for a large planet - See what still doesn't work - Scrap project - Promise a moon...

The costs were far greater to repair those already in service. What you may not have heard is that the ships of both classes are seeing stress cracks in addition to the engine issues. I believe the new hulls were strengthened and the engines replaced.

As kinda mentioned by others, the aluminum hulls on these ships are a major issue as well. Aluminum is far less forgiving than steel and they've had a lot of embrittlement and cracking issues.

The Freedom class littoral combat ships are the most survivable ships in the world...they never leave the shipyard.

I say that attempting innovation at this level is not so much a bad thing. However, it seems laughable and questionable how several LCSs were built first instead of building only 1 or 2 then conduct extensive sea trials and drills using those 2 ships to get a glimpse of the ship class's problems and possible improvements.

One problem is the lack of competition in the US defense industry. There are too few defense companies, and there is no real reason for them to innovate, or produce quality systems because the government has nowhere else to buy defense systems.

As a Coast Guard veteran and and a former 378 sailor (USCG Secretary Class) I am astounded to hear the information in this video regarding the propulsion issues. The Secretary Class pioneered this type of propulsion in the US military and they were laid down starting in the sixties (the British built the first CODOG - Combined Diesel or Gas - powered ships a few years before this). My ship had two diesel and two gas turbines coupled together just as explained in this video... and the last of them were just recently decommissioned and sold to foreign allies. So, we built something 50 plus years ago, which the Navy adopted and successfully built for decades after that, but in the 2000s we can't reproduce? Somebodies ass needs to get fired at Lockheed. Apart from the jet final drive replacing shaft drive the concepts were almost the same.

>build expensive warship >decommission it in 2 years >refuse to elaborate >leave

Innovation will always come with mistakes and failures. That's how we learn and improve. Maybe, however, commission 1-3 ships as fully functional prototypes and run them through their paces. Learn and modify the ships until we feel they satisfy expectations. Then commission a fleet. We could even use the prototypes to play a devious "enemy" in war training exercises after the testing program has finished.

I suppose that the physical ship might be the cheapest component compared to recurrant ongoing costs and design and logistics. So it might be cheaper to scrap a problematic ship. To be optimistic, newer ships have better tech and valuable knowledge of ship and weapons deployment is gained.

4:25 I really like the idea of a "Ludicrous Speed" button ngl. I hope they keep it in the 6 new ships and also upcoming ships that use the same propulsion system.

From a Perry class frigate veteran of Desert Storm, I have always felt that they should have just modernized and upgraded the Perry class, as at the time, they were really good at ASW, all they really needed was a better surface warfare capability and they would have been fine. Now, it looks like the Navy figured out that what they had was still the way to go, so they are going to build new frigates of the Constellation class to do what they could have done 20 years ago with ships they already had.......typical.

The Burke class destroyers are capable of completing the missions of the LCS'. They have a fantastic layout and can be somewhat modular in creation. Given that all the work has already been paid for to design and test the hauls and combat arrays, it's cheap (relatively speaking) to just modify them slightly and roll out the new version after every dozen or so. Former sonar engineer, no I wasn't in the military just worked for them.

I’ve watched about a dozen of these ship launches. My pops worked out of Newport News Va and building these in Menominee Mi. Almost 40years sad to see these fail like they did.

this is why prototype phase should have a thorough test and evaluation before said technology be in use

Not a american taxpayer, but: A apollogy and explanation why it took them _9 ships_ and _12 years_ to realize the unrepairable design flaws would propably be appreciated. At least with the Zumwalt, they figured the issues in 2-3 ships.

I remember a photographer who worked new equipment into his "working method" slowly...after it had been proven. Sounds like wise advice.

The guy flipping the switch to engage “Ludicrous Speed” was the best part of this video.

My grandfather God rest his soul he was a sailor on the USS Missouri in world war ii. He would talk a lot of the stories of things that he and some of his sailor friends would do on the ship and import he didn't talk much about combat and when he did he would always get that look in his eye like he's looking through you and his voice would get soft and kind of distant he did not like discussing combat at all and I never asked him a single thing about it. He was terrified of thunderstorms that he didn't know were approaching. I've seen that man hit the floor more than once. One time in particular though we did not know that there was a thunderstorm there it was barely raining outside and right outside the kitchen window which was only maybe seven or eight feet away from the kitchen table was a Maple tree. Pretty big one. Lightning hit it and when lightning hit that tree two of the three lights in the kitchen got knocked right out the bulbs blue or something happened but it got a little darker in there instantly and the sound of the report from the lightning was deafening and the house shook violently. And this all happened in like just a second or two. His reaction though.. even as a little kid it broke my heart to see what that did to him. He Dove on the floor slid a few feet hit the wall in the fetal position screaming. And then a few seconds later he was just crying his eyes out shaking. It was fucking awful to see. Now this was a man that was on a vessel that would have been damn hard to think. You know how much armor there was on those ships? Quite a bit. They could take multiple hits I mean they could take a fucking pounding and of course men would die that's what happens when shit explodes on ships obviously but the ship itself would float for a while most of those older world war II era ships it took a lot to render them combat ineffective or to sink them. Now granted technology changes and back then you had to actually see the enemy before you could take your shot. Obviously now that's not the case. You can be hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles away fire rocket off fire missile and that's that you never see the result or the explosion. The defensive systems on modern day ships are phenomenal. But still no ship is untouchable. And when you take this much aluminum and you start manufacturing the entire damn vessel out of it.. the structure compared to steel is not nearly as strong. You've got corrosion you've got cracking just under its own goddamn load. And God have mercy if a cruise missile hits a superstructure that's made of aluminum on a vessel or the hull made of aluminum. One hit will probably render it combat ineffective or sink it. My grandfather would talk about what he thought the future of naval vessels would be like. And for the most part he was correct. Overpriced ships that were not thought out well enough before they were actually constructed. Shit looks great on paper shit looks great in computer programs. But in the real world it doesn't always work out so good. And I believe some of these vessels are a prime example of that. And our tax dollars you know even though our military has the absolute highest budget globally.. well over a trillion dollars a year I think.. the money still is not.. it's not a bottomless money pit. I don't really get why the hell they would have to go with a completely new design a completely new weapon system completely different weapons they're never really taking anything from the past that worked and incorporating it with modern technology and I don't fucking understand why that is. Maybe the ships they're too big they're too heavy they're too slow.. well engineer some solutions then dammit! If you can engineer billions and billions and billions and billions and billions of dollars of pissed away money you could do that.

My boat sat for over a year and a half (still is) and it cost 70 million. Not including repairs to diesel motors, combining gear, and radio equipment. The combining gear replacement has failed other boats and ours. We didn't deploy or do anything. It costs 120 million to operate a DDG for a year. A much better and more capable platform. Plus has nearly six times the crew size. Three section duty is killing us.

As a Canadian I can only shake my head that even this level of inefficiency is vastly superior to our own naval procurement process.

Those Oliver Hazard Perry class ships in their day, were very basic but well designed ships for their price.👍

I guess it's always a good thing to push the boundaries when you managed your risks well, and have a realistic view on the project's vision. It's not a bad thing to take risks, but it's also not a bad thing to be a little conservative. If they can manage the balance between these two for future ship projects, I'm sure they can avoid building another LCS and Zumwalt. In fact, I think that's how PLA managed to build their current fleet?

Brilliant Question at the end. Love your videoes and intelligent way of reporting. Love from Denmark.

There was an almost infinite amount of 'and then the magic happens" in the concept of operations. Like the idea that a MH-60S can tow the mine sleds. To which the laws of physics and hydrodynamics said "Are you kidding"? This was obviously going to be a disaster from when the contracts were issued. Everything was sacrificed to speed, and the speed was never really required by the operational concept. The decision to not install the anticorrosion anodes on the ships was also a sign as to how incompetent the US Navy has become. Highest and best use: Artificial reef.

There was another mission module that would have made a difference. There was a plan for a hospital and disaster relief module set. Even at a week refit time, having a handful of additional, shallow draft, hospital ships to go with the Comfort and Mercy could be world wide in a couple weeks. Add the military capability still in the ship that doesn't exist on the dedicated hospital ships, and you could have had these floating relief vessels in more dangerous waters like the Horn or Gulf. Of course because it doesn't go pew, it was the first module cut before even making it out of design phase.

Innovation and all aside it seems like a pretty big oversight to purchase NINE of anything without proven testing and field work. If they had ordered maybe three instead it would have been a softer blow. But someone saw this thing on paper and just approved nine of the damn things lol 🤣

YoUr Freedom? Retired YoUr Independence? Retired

I know it’s just easier to blame the US Navy for these ships but let’s also blame the Lockheed Martin because they lied to the Navy and sold them a ship and a concept that doesn’t work.

Got my ESWS pin on a frigate(FFG). Those ships were tough little bastards. The Navy sank my ship during a weponsEX. She took a huge pounding and only finally sank when a couple torpedoes snapped her keel.

Every time he says “it’s not what you think” the credits roll in my head

Seems like history has a long line of projects that were "designed to do everything" and ended up either doing none of it well, or having some kind of massive flaw...airplanes, ships, rifles... On the other hand, the systems and platforms that have proven to have great multi-function ability were designed for one purpose...but designed so well that they could carry out other roles with a few relatively minor tweaks. It's a pattern that the military has consistently ignored.

Fun fact: The Avenger class minesweepers are the only ships in the Navy, other than the USS Constitution, to be made of wood

- i want two parallel lines crossing each other!! -it cant be done sir..! -Maybe if one of two lines is blue?? -WTF...?

Funny thing that the next class, the constellation, will be a European design ( it’s based on the french Italian program of FREMM, European multi mission program)

I suggest you making a video about different bow types of a warship (example: atlantic bow design, etc.)

Retired navy. This class of ship was built because the lawmakers wanted their shipyards to make money. Lay off shipyard workers, area goes into recession, lawmakers voted out of office. THIS SUCKS but don't see any change anytime soon.

San Diego Native - we have many of the Independence and Freedom class ships in San Diego back and forth out to see. It's truly a sad situation to see so much money be flushed. Too much technology into two different class ships. Hmmm. I hope this three new ships are completed and sea worthy soon.

Should have done more testing with the prototype USS Freedom before making sister ships. Well with the ones under construction I’d add a lot of changes to it for good measure. Ya know when the RMS Titanic sunk, they brought the RMS Olympic (the prototype) back to dry dock to be refitted (basically redesigned) with better bulk heads that actually reach the ceiling unlike the Titanic and adding a lot more stuff that I can’t remember at this time. You may think it looks good on paper but when its on the field it ends up not doing well or should I say doing bad, that is not gooding to look good on your part. With the Prototype they should have tested the engines more.

I was finishing up my Navy enlistment when this concept first was proposed. Most of us were against it from the beginning feeling that the frigate and destroyer is a far more flexible platform. Yes there is definitely a need for littoral ships but they should have focused on existing designs that were proven and just improved on the knowledge of those platforms. The coast guard needs more ships. Maybe repairing the existing and putting them into the coast guard would make sense. Every coast guard littoral should still have air to air and ship to ship offensive systems in additon to special operations type capabilities for drug interdiction.

One of the major shortcomings of these ships was the failure of the Navy to spend the money to build a prototype test bed of its all-new propulsion system. It this had been done, the design's many problems might have been identified and corrected. Or at the worst, would have resulted in a complete redesign into something that would work. As is, the LCS's propulsion is utterly unreliable, and every article that I have seen on it claims that the issues are either unsolvable, or will require a major rebuild that will cost almost as much as a new ship. Meanwhile, the Navy has changed their minds about the mission and weapons mix that they wanted these frigates to have. Essentially, the entire program has been a boondoggle from the start that has wasted years, and tens of billions of dollars while the Chinese have been building a new navy of their own.

I worked on ships 19 through 31 they are complex and difficult to work on. The gear issue isnt an easy fix!

It's not to the Navy but from Lockheed martin to be more honnest and present apologies ! Lobbys are everywhere, and they eat all ! this is the real problem...thanks for sharing, Class Independence trimaran is so futuristic, like it ! take care Bro ; )

The independence class was mostly an Australian design based on successful Australian ships. Our congress cried about the missing pork in the Independence class, so the Austral company agreed to build the ships in Mississippi. The Navy had selected the Austral design, but congress insisted on splitting the class with the Lockheed Shipbuilding designed and built Freedom Class. Of course, it had to be fancier because it was American and a fancier ship meant more pork to spread around and more inefficiencies. The Austral design wasn't entirely a clean sheet process, they changed only what they had to from their tried and true components and their designers had years of experience with similar designs. Lockheed's design was clean sheet and they needed a gee whiz product to justify their program. It ended up being something like a Swiss Army Knife knockoff or a counterfeit Rolex watch. Good bling, but didn't work very well.

"Or does the US Navy owe a big apology to American taxpayer?" American taxpayer: *"YES!!"*

Next to be built is the Boondoggle Class

I look forward to seeing the new frigates that’s supposed to replace the LCSs.

Which is why at the least, they should have had proof of concept tests after a few of them were built, with an option to continue construction after those tested satisfactory.

Greatest Financial Mistake of USN . Helpless Little Ship.

There is nothing new in a CODAG propulsion system. The Independence class is mentioned a similar class without any problems. I remember that there where a problem with galvanic corrosion on the Independence class.

That 'Ludicrious Speed' switch made me laugh.

I'm surprised they thought they could get "cheap" and "over 40 knots" in the same package. I'm glad to see they discovered the problem with the gears and can fix these in the 6 ships being built.

There was a film made in 1951 with Gary Cooper called " You're In the Navy Now ". Cooper plays the Captain of a ship with a new engine that is consistently breaking down during Sea Trials requiring them to be towed back to base. Sound familiar? You can find the film here on KZfaq.

I suppose on the basis of NIH (Not Invented Here) neither the US NAVY nor Lockheed Martin talked to the British Navy who have many years experience of running CODAG (Combined Diesel and Gas Turbine) warships. They could then have short circuited the development process and avoided many of the snags that arose with the LCS.

4:25 that switch does absolutely nothing, I love how some ships have humor and labeled it, if you look under the console it's not connected to anything.

This is the problem when you give all most the contract to one company “ Lockheed Martin “ !!!

The whole program is an example of the issues our military procurement faces. First we have a tendency to look to high-tech solutions, the so-called "silver bullet syndrome.". This is where one must see a massive leap in capability, or perceived capability to justify the expense. Or replacing something good with something better isn't seen as enough reason. Look at the army's efforts to replace their service rifle over the past couple of decades for another example of this. Secondly we see mission creep, a small relatively simple combatant to use and lose inshore instead of a cruiser or destroyer became a modular over engineered nightmare. Third we have procurement politics, the art of making sure the money goes to the right districts in order to secure support for the program. What did I miss?

My dad used to work for Fincantieri Marine in Marinette Wisconsin, around 2011, I remember going out there and seeing the yard, although I did not see much, it was cool, I am not too sure what he did while he worked there as I was 7 or 8 at the time.

*Before watchign the video* "I'm sure that the problems are design flaws and costs problems" "Not what you thing" *After watching the video* "Exactly what I was thinking".

There needs to be a push to introduce more competition into the defense industry and an update to the way contracts are awarded. Something tells me even though they failed miserably the same companies involved in this project are still getting millions in contracts.

In the early '80s Admiral Rickover called out major defense contractors who regularly won contracts with low-ball bids then threatened to stop projects if more money wasn't handed over. Angered by this routine shakedown, Rickover stated publicly that it would continue until those CEOs started going to prison. As always, the irascible Admiral's bluntness ruffled their feathers. His candor was never really embraced by Navy brass, and those remarks led to his ouster - one can only imagine what he'd say about these latest wastes of money.

It is cheaper to use the diesel to turn the current 9 boats into mine warfare vessels for wartime use. They can patrol the two seaboards and the waters around Hawaii. Using the independence class and the new Freedom class for surface warfare and permanent mine countermeasures duty. So basically break the glass in case of war boats. That would mean active storage and training reserve units on their operations.

Yup,I worked on the first LCS built Mobile Alabama 2008

I saw examples of this in Vietnam. One ship I was on was an AE with a modern rail system to move bombs and other ordinance from the hold elevator to the transfer station. Only thing was, there wasn’t enough space for the ordinance between the ceiling rail and the deck.

was just watching the video about winning modern war, it was so great Im gonna buy a mule in case it might be useful

General dynamics made them actually, also they were built at BIW in maine. Currently the navy has specialized personnel overseeing every aspect of construction, so provided the engineering is correct, they will sail.

I work on ships with multiple motors, 2 or 4 usually. And I have never seen a "combining gearbox". The motors drive generators and the drives are electric. This was old news in submarines during WW2. Some cruise ships have diesel/turbine electric drives that work reliably. A "combining gearbox" seems a atrociously expensive, heavy and unreliable way to eek out a bit of efficiency. Efficiency that can be claimed back on a diesel electric by the better hull shapes that electric drives and their shorter shafts allow.

To answer at the end, I think it’s both. The US navy learned that in order to stay ahead of the game we still need to test new ideas but not a whole lot all at once, or we r not gonna know what worked and what doomed the project.

I always think that these vids are so interesting,keep it up!

The problem with the freedom class ships is they were short orders made by Marinette who is owned by Fincanteri Marine and used Fincanteri power plants and oh yeah in classic fashion the gov went with the lowest bidder who has basically no support in the US. If you need parts you're paying a premium for Italian imported parts from one of two offices that Fincanteri operates in the US.

These ships have always been proof of concept platforms.

Great video. Doomed from conception. If the concept was to operate in the "littorals" ....that's an operation area where the combat logistics forces don't operate. Fine....except that the legs (fuel capacity, JP5 capacity, food storage) is all pretty shallow. So if the LCS must hit port frequently to resupply that kind of defeats the whole stealth gig, right? UNREP capability on the LCS is weak, poorly designed. Routine maintenance carried out by contractors while inport. Contractors are expensive especially in a high cost country like Singapore. There's never enough time to do something right but somehow always enough time to do it over again. This program was a ridiculous waste of time and money.

And the Independence class is cracking. Stellar performance thus far...

The USN really needs proper Frigates. The Constellation class are an excellent start, and should go into full production. They are much closer in spirit to the Perry class.

You can send the to mothball, at least there modern. If you really have to scrap a ship you could start with the U.S.S. Texas Museum battleship.

"Not in their best shape" is a polite way to describe the Mine Countermeasures ships. Damn things run off of poorly maintained diesel engines. The only way I was able to see a patrol on one of the MCMs was after a year and a half of engine problems, one Chief Engineer fired, and one engineering dept. LCPO "stepping down", big Navy sent an Isotta Fraschini corporate mechanic to fully diagnose and fix the issues. We lasted a good six months before we had to limp back to homeport because of more engine issues. Good times.

We have a LCS here in Bremerton,WA in the inactive ship area. I think there's a FFG Perry class hull around too. Knowing how tough they are, I'd sail in a reactivated Perry class anytime.

The problem is that the navy is relying on OEM manufacturers for maintenance, under the contract for these ships, sailors do not perform routine maintenance of these ships, that’s because these are still intellectual property of OEM manufacturers and many of these systems are considered part of their intellectual property and for contracting reasons to protect this proprietary systems within the OEM, special 3rd party contractors are the only ones permitted to run routine maintenance, these have to be shipped from the Continental US to wherever the ships are deployed at the expense of the navy causing huge delays in servicing and basic maintenance. Sailors cannot perform routine maintenance of these ships and it’s because of this that the LCS program has incurred such a high cost and become terribly ineficiente. It’s also why ships are reported to be in poor condition when on deployment and adding the technical issues which again involve proprietary OEM manufacturers, you cannot have enlisted sailors perform repairs or maintenance on systems that are supposed to be automated and restricted to only OEM approved contractors which. They, the LCS platforms are good in theory but this does not work when the ships cannot be maintained by the enlisted sailors and are the property of the OEM manufacturers that still hold the final say on the systems and machinery that is contained within these ships

I am... intimately familiar with the military procurement process in the USA, so I figure I'd provide a bit of information on how it REALLY works:: Both the littoral combat ships and Zumwalt class were "wedged" to get funded. In the military contracts game, a "wedge" - its when you are selling a project you know (or at least suspect) will cost far more than what originally is budgeted to be funded. Then once funded, you keep incrementally asking for more money. The military, like everyone else, doesn't want to have a "failed" project, so they just keep dumping more money into it. You will never see a military procurement project be referred to as a "failure". If the results were so terrible that a product wasn't even produced, then the standard line is that you developed new technologies for future applications. The whole procurement system is screwed up, starting from Congress wanting the money in their districts, down to the small contracting companies run by the Admiral's nephew. I do want people to know that the vast majority of the people involved in military procurement DO mean well and are proud to help defend their country. The whole procurement system is fundamentally broken. On a side note, IMHO, the biggest philosophical issue the US military can't get over is knowing when it is okay NOT to use the latest and greatest technology. It wants to be the best at everything, and in doing so, is super inefficient with its spending. Ships today literally cost 10 times what the same class would have costed during WW2 because they have to be the best at everything. We need to come to terms with the fact that China will be better than us in certain domains - our job is to decide which domains are most important to us. Sorry for the rant.

US Navy ship development has a history of small numbers of a very expensive class or two and then a large number of effective/efficient ships of a single class. Basically they aim high and fail and those lessons are incorporated into the next class. The Arleigh Burke's are an example of cashing in on this kind of ship development and it can be seen particularly throughout US Navy destroyer history. The Fletcher class of WW2 was another example of development lessons creating an awesome class. The Littorals are a fairly new concept and they were never going to get it right first time, which is partly why there are 2 different classes. The Independence and Freedom classes are basically a huge R&D project which will pay dividends in the US Navy's littoral ships of the future. The Gerald R Ford is exactly the same thing, aim high technologically and figure it out or fix it for future ships. Without knowing the Navy's true reasons for building these ships it is not possible to class then as a success or failure. But yes, the dollar figures are astounding.

Something for NZ navy to do and a real role for reserves. And great overseas opportunities

No surprise that many in the Navy and elsewhere say that: "LCS stands for Little Crappy Ship."

10 to 15 knots ! So it could keep pace with a 19th century frigate under sail. So that's what the ludicrous speed switch at 4:52 was for . Are warships covered by lemon laws ?

It has been said: Take a pile of S$##, cover it in gold, you end up with a gold covered pile of S$##. This is like the new carriers who have become 'Dock Queens' for years because of crappy construction and experimental equipment that doesn't work. We need to give our crews something that has been tried out and proved. Why sign contracts for a half dozen without making sure even one is what is needed?

Military industrial complex, all one needs to understand about the military. Keep it alive at all costs... Hence the wars around the world

Everytime I Here. It's not what you think. Makes me wonder if I'm even thinking anymore

I just drove through Marinette WI a couple days ago, home of Fincantieri Marine who builds the Freedom Class LTS. There were 3 of the ships there, one of which was on it's launching blocks, I assume a new ship. When I got to Escanaba MI there were 2 more tied up on the pier downtown. I wondered why there were 5 of these ships sitting in 2 cities, now I know.

I did armed security for Marinette Marine, which was building some of these LCS ships. I can say that they constantly had problems and had to be towed back to port after the majority of test runs. They were known to be very fast however, and one captain claimed to go much faster than the specified top speed of the ship during a particular test run. However none of that means anything if they struggle to even get out of the Great Lakes and into the ocean without blowing and engine or some other issue.

On the plus side make some spectacular riverside apartments imagine that! Only way your gonna get some of that cash back could be made into military retirement apartments maybe. just me thinking outside the box

The LCS strength was in the under invested in modules and helicopters were not indigenous to this design. I know one of the designers of this style of ship. He worked on propulsion

As I understand it, the DoD attempted to commence construction of the LCS while it was still far too early in the design phase. A recipe for confusion if there ever was one.

Out of US $700 bn military budget half of that goes into the pockets of the rich and big private companies who intentionally try to increase and delay such ambitious projects. Like how the f-35 program almost cost America a trillion.

We had this same problem at our Chad plant. We just couldn’t get the atomization of the fuel oil to work right.

Which of the LCS Classes has the major problems with Hull corrosion? I don't believe given what happened with USS Independence (LCS-2) and allegedly there are structural defects in more than half that class limiting their speed and operation the Freedom class will be slower in mothballing/scrapping I think all the LCS have flaws and ultimately the US navy will want to proceed with replacing with more traditional frigates consistent with technology it has and using use with its major ally (UK) via the Royal Navy

This is nothing unusual for the Navy or for the U.S. military in general. These are not the first ships that have cost taxpayers huge sums only to be useless or highly defective. This has been happening for decades and will continue to happen as long as Americans don't hold their elected officials accountable.

I sailed on steam powered destroyers and Knox class frigates and we never had the issues in our engineering plants like these piles of junk do. We fired up the boilers and hit 1200 psi and got underway no problems at all

I find this to be a heart-warming story. Lockheed-Martin and Raytheon were paid regardless of this tremendous failure. And they feed so many families in the US...

idk why they didn't go with nuclear power plants on this class of ship, and the modular mission package thing can work, they just need to keep working on it

I'm ex US Navy. I interviewed for a position at Fancantiere Marine that builds the freedom class. (Raytheon builds weapon systems, no?). Fincantiere operates out of a shipyard in Marinette Wisconsin... Just north of Green Bay. It was an electrical engineering position. 15 yrs out the service, it brought back good feelings from the old days, going on the interview... the same haze grey like on my old Newport News built CVN71. But the company is Italian owned, and when not building LCS Freedom class ships they build cruise ships...and then I learned the LCS Freedom class is built on a cruise ship hull.. and I was like the f__ck what? Then I walked through the well deck and saw paper foil insulation covering the bulkheads and thought... This paper and tape isn't going to last through one deployment... And then they told me about ongoing issues of leaking where the water jets exit the ship... As well as the issues with the propulsion plant... And I thought... These jackasses are making up stuff as they go... They have no experience in Navy ship building, no apparent familiarity with QC / six sigma, no process control / no BIM model equivalents... No plan on quickly and efficiently fixing issues... What for? They have more money than they know what to do with. Oh... you want Phalanx / CIWS or a RAM missile system on the ship, or some sort of electronic warfare system like AN-SLQ 32? Oh, that gear is heavy and will reduce top speed to 20 knots, even though every Navy combatant has these systems. So I walked away from a train wreck. This was in 2018. As far as why are they building more while de commisioning the LCS ships... Ask a business grad or a lawyer about contracts and how the federal government is on the hook to pay for X# of ships. Yet the US government will then manage to sell these lemons to Guatemala or Iraq. So it's not a complete loss.