The future USS Manchester (LCS-14) successfully completed acceptance trials December 15 after a series of graded in-port and underway demonstrations for the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV).
Acceptance trials are the last significant milestone before delivery of the ship to the U.S. Navy. During trials, the Navy conducted comprehensive tests of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), intended to demonstrate the performance of the propulsion plant, ship handling abilities and auxiliary systems. While underway, the ship successfully performed launch-and-recovery operations of the 11-meter rigid-hull inflatable boat, completed surface and air self-defense detect-to-engage exercises and demonstrated the ship’s maneuverability through high-speed steering and a four-hour full power run.
«The Navy/industry trials team in Mobile has found their stride and, with stability in the serial production line, are taking ships to trials with consistently improved performance at decreased cost», said Captain Mike Taylor, LCS program manager. «Manchester will be an exceptional addition to the rapidly growing in-service LCS fleet».
Following delivery, a post-delivery maintenance availability and crew training and familiarization exercises in Mobile, Alabama USS Manchester (LCS-14) will sail to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for commissioning. The ship will be homeported in San Diego, California with sister ships USS Independence (LCS-2), USS Coronado (LCS-4), USS Jackson (LCS-6), USS Montgomery (LCS-8), USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) and the future USS Omaha (LCS-12).
Several more Independence variant ships are under construction at Austal USA in Mobile. USS Tulsa (LCS-16) and USS Charleston (LCS-18) were christened and launched earlier in 2017. Other sister ships, USS Cincinnati (LCS-20), USS Kansas City (LCS-22), USS Oakland (LCS-24) and USS Mobile (LCS-26) are in varying stages of construction. In addition to these hulls, contracts for LCS-28 and LCS-30 were awarded to Austal in 2017.
LCS is a modular, reconfigurable ship designed to meet validated fleet requirements for Surface Warfare, Anti-Submarine Warfare, and Mine Countermeasures missions in the littoral region. An interchangeable mission package is embarked on each LCS and provides the primary mission systems in one of these warfare areas. Using an open architecture design, modular weapons, sensor systems and a variety of manned and unmanned vehicles to gain, sustain, and exploit littoral maritime supremacy, LCS provides U.S. joint force access to critical theaters.
The Independence Variant of the LCS Class
| PRINCIPAL DIMENSIONS | |
| Construction | Hull and superstructure – aluminium alloy |
| Length overall | 421 feet/128.3 m |
| Beam overall | 103 feet/31.4 m |
| Hull draft (maximum) | 14.8 feet/4.5 m |
| PAYLOAD AND CAPACITIES | |
| Complement | Core Crew – 40 |
| Mission crew – 36 | |
| Berthing | 76 in a mix of single, double & quad berthing compartments |
| Maximum mission load | 210 tonnes |
| Mission Bay Volume | 118,403 feet3/11,000 m3 |
| Mission packages | Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) |
| Surface Warfare (SUW) | |
| Mine Warfare (MIW) | |
| PROPULSION | |
| Main engines | 2 × GE LM2500 |
| 2 × MTU 20V 8000 | |
| Waterjets | 4 × Wartsila steerable |
| Bow thruster | Retractable azimuthing |
| PERFORMANCE | |
| Speed | 40 knots/46 mph/74 km/h |
| Range | 3,500 NM/4,028 miles/6,482 km |
| Operational limitation | Survival in Sea State 8 |
| MISSION/LOGISTICS DECK | |
| Deck area | >21,527.8 feet2/2,000 m2 |
| Launch and recovery | Twin boom extending crane |
| Loading | Side ramp |
| Internal elevator to hanger | |
| Launch/Recover Watercraft | Sea State 4 |
| FLIGHT DECK AND HANGER | |
| Flight deck dimensions | 2 × SH-60 or 1 × CH-53 or multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles/Vertical Take-off and Land Tactical Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs/VTUAVs) |
| Hanger | Aircraft stowage & maintenance for 2 × SH-60 |
| Launch/Recover Aircraft | Sea State 5 |
| WEAPONS AND SENSORS | |
| Standard | 1 × 57-mm gun |
| 4 × 12.7-mm/.50 caliber guns | |
| 1 × Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) launcher | |
| 3 × weapons modules | |
Independence-class
| Ship | Laid down | Launched | Commissioned | Homeport |
| USS Independence (LCS-2) | 01-19-2006 | 04-26-2008 | 01-16-2010 | San Diego, California |
| USS Coronado (LCS-4) | 12-17-2009 | 01-14-2012 | 04-05-2014 | San Diego, California |
| USS Jackson (LCS-6) | 08-01-2011 | 12-14-2013 | 12-05-2015 | San Diego, California |
| USS Montgomery (LCS-8) | 06-25-2013 | 08-06-2014 | 09-10-2016 | San Diego, California |
| USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS-10) | 04-16-2014 | 02-25-2015 | 06-10-2017 | San Diego, California |
| USS Omaha (LCS-12) | 02-18-2015 | 11-20-2015 | San Diego, California | |
| USS Manchester (LCS-14) | 06-29-2015 | 05-12-2016 | ||
| USS Tulsa (LCS-16) | 01-11-2016 | |||
| USS Charleston (LCS-18) | 06-28-2016 | |||
| USS Cincinnati (LCS-20) | 04-10-2017 | |||
| USS Kansas City (LCS-22) | 11-15-2017 | |||
| USS Oakland (LCS-24) | ||||
| USS Mobile (LCS-26) | ||||
| LCS-28 | ||||
| LCS-30 |