Navy Acceptance Trials Up Next for LCS 3

Fort Worth successfully completes second round of builder’s trials focused on ship propulsion and handling

During the recent round two of LCS 3’s builder’s trials on Lake Michigan, the Lockheed Martin-team successfully conducted comprehensive tests of the Fort Worth’s propulsion plant, ship handling and auxiliary systems.

Following on the heels of October’s successful initial builder’s trials, the future USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) successfully completed round two on April 4 in Lake Michigan. Built on time and on budget by a Lockheed Martin-led team at the Marinette Marine shipyard in Wisconsin, LCS 3 will undergo Navy acceptance trials in late April/early May in advance of its scheduled summer delivery.

“This was a great opportunity to test and operate all our shipboard systems,” said Captain John Neagley, the Navy’s LCS program manager. “The Navy and industry team have done a great job preparing the ship for builders trials. We look forward to presenting this ship to INSURV during acceptance trials.”

During the two-day trial, the Lockheed Martin-team conducted comprehensive tests of the Fort Worth’s propulsion plant, ship handling and auxiliary systems.

A fast, agile, focused-mission ship, LCS is designed to defeat asymmetric “anti-access” threats such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft. The Lockheed Martin team is building the LCS’s Freedom variant.

The team built the nation’s first LCS – the USS Freedom – and delivered it to the Navy in 2008. Freedom went to sea two years ahead of schedule and is currently preparing for her next deployment.

Construction of the next two Freedom variants – the Milwaukee (LCS 5) and the Detroit (LCS 7) is underway at Marinette Marine. In March, the Navy issued Lockheed Martin a $715 million contract modification to build two more LCSs – the Little Rock (LCS 9) and the Sioux City (LCS 11). The $357.5 million average cost for those two ships is well below the $480 million congressional cost cap.

In addition to Marinette Marine, the Lockheed Martin team consists of naval architect Gibbs & Cox and other domestic and international suppliers, including ArcelorMittal, BAE Systems, DRS Technologies, Fairbanks Morse Engine, Oldenburg, Rolls Royce, RENK and Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine among others.