The U.S. Navy has commissioned the Independence-variant littoral combat ship USS Cincinnati (LCS 20).
It is the fifth ship to be named for Cincinnati, Ohio.
Principle speaker U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup of Ohio said,
“From acquisition to construction, to testing and certification, she is a marvel of engineering
that will extend our capabilities for any mission, from the middle of the ocean, to
the shallowest of waters, enhancing our ability to project power at shore and at sea.
The USS Cincinnati will extend the maneuverability and lethality of our fleet to confront the
many challenges of our complex world.”
Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa, Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Adm. James
G. Foggo III sated “Each and every day, our ships sail alongside
those of our Allies and partners, defending freedom, deterring aggression, and ensuring
adherence to the rules which underwrite the greatest signal to our allies and our partners
and best warning to our adversaries”.
Foggo added, “Naval presence is essential to our National Defense Strategy and to a
peaceful, connected, and prosperous world.”
In this video Defense Updates reports on commissioning of USS Cincinnati (LCS 20) Littoral Combat
Ship.
Let's get started.
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The littoral combat ship (LCS) is a set of two classes the Independence and Freedom.
Construction of the Freedom-class is spearheaded by Lockheed Martin at Fincantieri Marinette
Marine shipyard in Wisconsin, while that of Independence-class ships is led by Austal
USA in Alabama.
These are relatively small surface vessels and primarily designed for operations near
shore.
During the late 1990s, the U.S. Navy understood that cruisers and destroyers would be vulnerable
to attacks in shallow coastal waters.
Large warships like cruisers and destroyers are designed for open-ocean warfare and not
for shallow water where these can be targeted by high-speed boats, missile-firing fast-attack
craft, small submarines, sea mines, and land and air-launched anti-ship missiles.
The idea behind the littoral combat ship, as described by former Secretary of the Navy
Gordon R. England, is to “create a small, fast, maneuverable and relatively inexpensive
member of the DD(X) family of ships.”
If required these ships will absorb an attack and protect the much more expensive cruiser
or destroyers.
The LCS is envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeating
anti-access and asymmetric threats in coastal waters.
Interestingly, the LCS has a modular design.
The vessels can be configured with different modules for specific roles that include anti-submarine
warfare, mine countermeasures, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance,
homeland defense, maritime intercept, special operations, and logistics.
In the long run, the LCSs are expected to progressively replace slower and specialized
ships such as minesweepers and amphibious assault ships.
USS Cincinnati has a length of 127.4 m (418 ft ) and a displacement of 3,104 tonnes when
fully loaded.
The ship uses two gas turbines and two diesel engines to power four steerable waterjets.
The USS Cincinnati has speed of 40 kn + (46 mph; 74 km/h) and has a range of 4,300 nmi
(8,000 km; 4,900 mi)
It accommodates 40 core crew plus up to 35 mission crew.
USS Cincinnati can carry up to two Fire Scouts.
The Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout is an unmanned autonomous helicopter developed by
Northrop Grumman for use by the United States Armed Forces.
The Fire Scout is designed to provide reconnaissance, situational awareness, aerial fire support
and precision targeting support for ground, air and sea forces.
Fire Scout's surveillance and targeting capability is expected to further enhance the LCS’s
improved lethality
The Independence-class carries a default armament for self-defense, and command and control.
Unlike traditional fighting ships with fixed armaments such as guns and missiles, tailored
mission modules can be configured for one mission package at a time.
Modules may consist of manned aircraft, unmanned vehicles, off-board sensors, or mission-manning
detachments.
The interior volume and payload is greater than some destroyers and is sufficient to
serve as a high-speed transport and maneuver platform.
The mission bay is 15,200 square feet (1,410 m2) and takes up most of the deck below the
hangar and flight deck.
With 11,000 cubic meters of payload volume, it was designed with enough payload and volume
to carry out one mission with a separate mission module in reserve, allowing the ship to do
multiple missions without having to be refitted.
One Mobicon Flexible Container Handling System is carried on each ship in order to move mission
containers.
In addition to cargo or container-sized mission modules, the bay can carry four lanes of multiple
Strykers, armored Humvees, and their associated troops.
An elevator allows air transport of packages the size of a 20-foot-long (6.1 m) shipping
container that can be moved into the mission bay while at sea.
A side access ramp allows for vehicle roll-on/roll-off loading to a dock.
The Independence-class ships also have an integrated LOS Mast, Sea Giraffe 3D Radar
and SeaStar Safire FLIR.
Northrop Grumman has demonstrated sensor fusion of on and off-board systems in the Integrated
Combat Management System (ICMS) used on the LCS.
The vessels have an Interior Communications Center that can be curtained off from the
rest of the bridge instead of the heavily protected Combat Information Center found
on other Navy warships.
USS Cincinnati will be armed by a variety of the weapons
One BAE Systems Mk 110 57 mm gun One Raytheon SeaRAM CIWS (Close In Weapon
System) Four .50-cal guns (2 aft, 2 forward)
Two 30 mm Mk44 Bushmaster II guns (part of SUW module)
24 AGM-114L Hellfire missiles (planned part of SUW module) or 8 NSMs in deck-mounted canisters.
Naval Strike Missiles or NSM is the most powerful weapon of the USS Cincinnati which gives it
a potent punch and the ability to taken on much larger opponents.
It is the upgrade of Kongsberg’s Penguin short-to-medium range anti-ship guided missile.
The missile has a range of 100 miles or 185 km.
NSM is capable of high subsonic speeds.
It has sea skim mode by which it travels very close to the surface, making it hard to detect
and intercept.
It is also designed to maneuver to avoid enemy defenses.
It is equipped with 276 pounds or 125 kg multi-purpose blast/fragmentation warhead.
NSM features an imaging IR-seeker which is complimented by inertial/GPS navigation.
The missile also has a built-in database of representative ship types to distinguish between
intended targets and other objects.
Importantly it can be used as an anti-ship missile as a for taking out land targets.
NSM will be placed on the decks of LCSs through a proprietary canister launcher.
US Navy has more than 10 supercarriers, 65+ Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, 25+ Ticonderoga-class
cruiser as well as several other surface combatants like Wasp class amphibious assault ship.
The powerful warships have made the American Navy’s surface fleet to be the most formidable
one The inclusion of
With the inclusion of Littoral Combat Ship like USS Cincinnati , US Navy will be able
to plug certain holes like operating in constrained places.
This relatively smaller but very agile addition will significantly improve the combat flexibility
of the US Navy as it faces an ever stronger Chinese and resurgent Russian Navy.