From everything I hear the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) is entering the fleet with a splash.  The LCS is small, fast and lethal. 

What’s more, the Sailors who serve aboard this new class of ships are going to find the assignment completely unique.  If you’re looking for a challenge, and think you might be willing to be a part of something new for the Navy, you might want to keep reading.

The LCS is a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant.  In addition to the core missions, the ship will be utilize reconfigurable mission modules that will allow the ship to counter threats from surface craft, submarines and mines.

Having a full-load displacement draft of only 10 feet, the ship will have the ability to access very shallow waters.  The ship’s top speed is about 50 knots and has a range of more than 4,300 nautical miles.

The core capabilities include mobility; special operations forces; intelligence; surveillance; reconnaissance; maritime interdiction operations; homeland defense; anti-terrorism force protection; and the three focused missions that combatant commanders need to counter:  mine and undersea warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and surface warfare.

The open architecture will allow missions modules to be loaded on and off the ship in a relatively rapid period of time.  This flexible feature allows theater commanders to dictate what the mission of the ship is, on the day that he needs it, rather than having to rely on outside shipyards or upgrades that take long periods of time, and cause mission delays.

The ships are configured with a helicopter deck and hangar.  The deck is capable of launch and recovery of the MH-60R/S helicopter and tactical unmanned air vehicle.  The ships can carry out aircraft launch and recovery in conditions up to Sea State 5, i.e. in winds up to 27 knots and average wave heights between 6.4 feet and 9.6 feet.  The ships will be capable of launching and recovering watercraft, for example 40-foot high-speed boats, within 15 minutes in conditions of Sea State 4, i.e. waves up to five feet and winds up to 21 knots.

The ships will carry provisions for 21 days and have the capability for underway replenishment.

The flexibility of the LCS to perform many different missions, with a relatively small crew, makes this ship extremely attractive to our Navy.  Staffed by a crew ranging in size from 15 to 50, the nucleus crew will be augmented by special mission crews that will embark on a mission-need basis. In total, the ship can berth approximately 75 people. 

Each ship will also have two crews, a blue crew and a gold crew.  Each crew will have a commanding officer, executive officer and a command senior chief. Unlike most ships, the only two people aboard this type of ship that won’t stand a watch are the CO and XO.  The command senior chief will, in addition to his or her normal duties, stand watch as an officer of the deck (underway).

Shipmates, the LCS is simply incredible. As much as I could go on and on about the technical capabilities of this new type of ship, I’m more interested in generating your enthusiasm for duty aboard this new ship class because of what it will mean to our Navy and perhaps to your own career.

While there is some debate about the total number of ships that will be built, we will have many of them.  Some suggest we may have 50 or more. For every Sailor who ever felt lost among a crew, this ship offers a chance to serve that will ensure you are an integral part of the ship and its mission.  The LCS will have no extra personnel. There will be no wasteful duties and no Sailor assigned will perform meaningless work. Every Sailor counts.

The two-crew concept has many merits. While one crew is at sea, the other will be ashore training. This rotation allows the ship to be deployed to a greater extent, maximizing the ship’s operational impact to the fleet, yet protecting the individual deployment tempo of the crew.

I see this as a win-win concept. Proven for years aboard ballistic missile submarines, having two crews is not a unique idea. The Navy has seen many successes in this area and if you truly want to learn more about the merits of two crews, ask any submariner that has served aboard an SSBN and get his opinion.

Having served aboard many ships, including aircraft carriers, I can tell you the advantages of serving aboard such a small ship seem great. If you think you might like serving in a command where your efforts truly matter, where you know for sure others depend on you, where you perform many diverse jobs, where you split your time aboard the ship and ashore, and where you serve on sea duty yet have the ability to further your education ashore, the LCS might be right for you. 

The “hybrid” Sailors who man these new ships will develop skill sets not possible aboard many other Navy ships. If you think you’re up to the challenge, and belong to a surface rating, contact your detailer and look into the possibility of serving aboard an LCS - the Navy is looking for some great Sailors, are you one of them?