LCS 2 design could become fleet standard

[unhappycamper]

The new technology and layout of the bridge on the littoral combat ship Independence will have an influence on future ship design. Here, Operations Specialist 1st Class Willie Smith (left) and Lt. j.g. Justin Guernsey on watch on the bridge of the littoral combat ship Independence underway from Key West to Jacksonville, Fla., on April 1 in the Atlantic Ocean.


LCS 2 design could become fleet standard
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Apr 18, 2010 10:14:09 EDT

ABOARD THE LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP INDEPENDENCE — Even if the Navy doesn’t pick its design for full production, this could end up as one of the most influential ships in the history of the fleet.

But to understand why, it helps to be a nerd.

Visitors to Independence’s pilothouse see many resemblances to the bridge of the Starship Enterprise, including two side-by-side command chairs with their own computer keyboards, a third chair behind them for overseeing the ship’s activity, and more consoles for engines, weapons and sensors in the back of the pilothouse. The ship’s captain has a fourth chair, of his own, on the starboard side, with a monitor for the ship’s vital information.

~snip~

With all the new technology on the bridge, many familiar things are missing: Bridge wings, a ship’s wheel, an engine-order telegraph, and other features common to pilothouses in the rest of the fleet. In their place are digital controls, electronic sensors and entirely new ways of standing watch.

With shipboard crew sizes steadily decreasing, those new ways are likely to become increasingly common on the Navy’s newer, more advanced warships, including its Zumwalt-class destroyers and, potentially, its Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. They point toward a future in which fewer sailors have more control over a ship at sea than has been the case, but could also require sailors to give up long-standing conventions.


unhappycamper comment: At $704 million the LCS2 is indeed a fine ship. It's a tad over the estimated cost of $200 million (Deepwater original estimate), but it is damn sure less than the $5+ billion dollars a Zunwalt destroyer costs.