USS Freedom Early Deployment

This isn't a Hail Mary at the end of the football game, but it is like a Hail Mary at the end of halftime. This is similar to the overcompensation one finds when the 5'8" guy buys a Hummer to impress women.

The Navy announced today the decision to deploy the USS Freedom (LCS 1) in early 2010 to the Southern Command and Pacific Command areas ahead of her originally scheduled 2012 maiden deployment. According to Navy leaders, Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) are needed now to close urgent warfighting gaps.

"Deploying LCS now is a big step forward in getting this ship where it needs to be - operating in the increasingly important littoral regions," said Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations. "We must deliver this critical capability to the warfighter now."

The USS Freedom will have an immediate impact on fleet readiness and global reach as an asset with unique combat capabilities and the ability to meet littoral tasking not previously seen in the modern cruiser or destroyer fleet.

“The Navy plans to build a considerable number of littoral combat ships which will form the backbone of our future fleet,” said Adm J. C. Harvey, Jr., commander, U.S. Fleet Forces, charged with executing the early deployment. “The sooner we integrate them into our fleet, the sooner we can incorporate them in the order of battle. This deployment offers a golden opportunity to learn by doing. Employing the USS Freedom in theater two years ahead of a normal timeline allows us to incorporate lessons that can only be learned in a deployment setting more quickly and effectively in the LCS fleet integration process."

In evaluating options for deploying the USS Freedom earlier than originally scheduled, the Navy took into consideration several key factors including combat systems testing, shakedown of the ship systems, and overseas sustainment with a new concept of operations and crew training. To facilitate the early deployment, the Navy adjusted the USS Freedom testing schedule, prioritized testing events needed for deployment and deferred others not required for the missions envisioned during this deployment. The USS Freedom recently completed Industrial Post Delivery Availability 2, which also supported an early deployment.

The Navy has been looking into this since Spring time, April or May. Good idea? Yes, it is a good idea to test new stuff.

With that said, this press release represents the forest and the trees problem. The Navy desires the LCS because it brings large numbers of hulls (forest), but when the CNO says We must deliver this critical capability to the warfighter now, he is making the trees argument. Nobody, and I mean absolutely nobody, should believe what he is saying. This hurts the CNOs credibility in my opinion, because what exactly is the critical capability the LCS is bringing the warfighter needed right now making this move necessary?

It basically means whichever module deployed on the LCS is absolutely in vital need today, but which module will deploy on the LCS? Are we in that dire need of minesweepers? Do we really need littoral submarine surface hunters that badly? Is the CNO making the argument the small boat threat is so critical, that only with half-a-billion dollar speedboat killers can the US Navy overcome? Please. Aren't we past the point of overhype? Apparently not.

The Navy needs the LCS because the fleet is shrinking, not because of one single capability the warfighter is in dire pain without. Whatever module ends up on the LCS, it will be an incomplete module anyway because the modules aren't completely ready. Does that mean the hull itself has the critical capability? Oh please someone, do not make the piracy argument for the LCS, please let common sense prevail before we go down that road...

I like the idea of deploying the LCS early, but in this press announcement, Harvey's comments represent realism while Roughead's comment is unbelievable, non-credible nonsense.

Expect the deployment to 5th fleet. I do anyway, they have to test the forward deployment nature of the ship otherwise the deployment becomes highly questionable.