The U.S Navy has commissioned its new USS Indianapolis its new surface combatant at
Burns Harbor along Lake Michigan.
Thousands of people showed up Saturday to see the U.S. Navy put its newest combat ship
into active service.
The ceremony marking the ship's entry into the Navy's active fleet was started at 10
a.m. CDT.
It's the fourth military vessel carrying the Indianapolis name.
The second one is best known.
It was sunk by a Japanese submarine in 1945 while returning from a Pacific island, where
it delivered key components for the atomic bomb.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb stated, "The USS Indianapolis brings with it a very
special, in fact, an emotional meaning for Hoosiers.
And it's not just because it's named the Indianapolis."
Navy Commander Joseph Mitzen said, "In July 1945, Indianapolis completed a top
secret high-speed trip to deliver components of Little Boy, the first nuclear weapon ever
used in combat,"
In this video Defense Updates reports on commissioning of USS Indianapolis (LCS 17) 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 Indianapolis has a length of 115 m (378 ft) and a displacement of 3,500 tonnes when
fully loaded.
The ship uses two Rolls-Royce MT30 36 MW (48,000 hp) gas turbines and two Colt-Pielstick 16PA6B
6.8 MW (9,100 hp) diesel engines to power 4 Rolls-Royce steerable waterjets.
The USS Indianapolis has speed of 47 kn + (54 mph; 87 km/h) and has a range of 3,500
nmi (6,500 km; 4,000 mii)
It accommodates 50 core crew and a total of 65 with mission crew.
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 flight deck is one and a half times larger than that of a standard surface ship and 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 3-axis crane for positioning modules or cargo
USS Indianapolis can carry up to two Fire Scouts or one Seahawk
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 Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk is a twin turboshaft engine, multi-mission United States
Navy helicopter based on the United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk and a member of the
Sikorsky S-70 family.
The Seahawk can handle anti-submarine warfare (ASW), anti-surface warfare (ASUW), naval
special warfare (NSW) insertion, search and rescue (SAR), combat search and rescue (CSAR),
vertical replenishment (VERTREP), and medical evacuation (MEDEVAC).
In a standard configuration, Freedom-class LCS’s armament consists of an 11-cell Raytheon
RIM-116B SeaRAM missile-defense system, BAE Systems Mk 110 57 mm naval gun, and Mark 50
light-weight torpedoes launched from torpedo tubes.
RIM-116B SeaRAM missile-defense system can launch MK 31 Rolling Airframe Missiles that
have a range of 9 km and has a speed of Mach 2.
The 57-millimeter naval gun is designed for close range combat and has a range of 1.7
km.
Mark 50 torpedo is a U.S. Navy's advanced lightweight torpedo for use against fast,
deep-diving submarines.
It has a range of 15 km and speed of 40 knots.
USS Indianapolis could be armed with Naval Strike Missiles.
Naval Strike Missiles or NSM if deployed will give USS Indianapolis 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 USS Indianapolis will help
the U.S Navy operate in constrained places.
An apt example will be the Strait of Hormuz.
The Strait of Hormuz is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.
It is one of the world's most strategically important choke points.
At its narrowest, the strait has a width of only 21 nautical miles or 39 km.
Because of its narrow width, many analysts think that it can be easily secured and Iran
will be able to inflict massive damage on a force consisting of large warships as those
will find it difficult to maneuver.
The relatively smaller but very agile LCS like USS Indianapolis will be much better
suited for these kinds of situations.