The USS Freedom (LCS-1) departed San Diego on Friday en route to Singapore for an eight-month deployment and the first major oversees operation for the first of the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships.
Freedom, sporting a new camouflage paint job, and its crew of 53 are expected to arrive in the tiny Southeast Asian nation in mid-April after making port calls in Pearl Harbor, Guam and other possible spots.
The deployment is an opportunity for the Navy to assess the ship’s performance in a real world operating environment and to examine, manning, training and equipping.
“We’re looking forward to seeing some good things come from Freedom,” said Rick Chernitzer, a spokesman for the Pacific Fleet.
It’s also a key step for a ship that experienced cost overruns and developmental problems with cracking that led to scrutiny of the program. The Navy has resolved those problems and said similar uses have not occurred with the latest variant of the ship, the USS Fort Worth (LCS-3), which was delivered to the Navy last summer.
Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the prime contractor for the Freedom variant and is partnered with shipbuilder Marinette Marine. Austal USA is the lead contractor for the Independence variant.
The Navy plans to buy 52 of the ships. To date, three have been delivered and 21 are under contract. The Navy is buying an equal number of each variant.