U.S.S. Independence in all her glory, I think.

www.austal.com...















Has a futuristic feel does it not? Actually its here as of right now. Imagine if it was a destroyer or battlecruiser.

O yeah to Orangetom, too bad you couldn't get a chance to work on this ship and get a good look at her up close.

[edit on 29-4-2008 by deltaboy]

Deltaboy,

I have not been keeping tabs on this area of the shipbuilding industry as I hadn't much spare time of late.

I did not even know this yard was constructing this type of boat. Most of the boats I know of in this area of the USA are built in Pasgogula, Mississippi...another Northrop Grumman Shipyard. The other is in New Orleans, Louisana. Some of the assemblys for the ships being built in Pasgogula, Mississippi are being built up here and shipped down there on barges.

The other yard building Navy surface ships is in BAth, Maine. Ive looked at this yard on Google Earth. I shall have to check out this Mobile, Alabama yard.

I knew that this was the design for future littorial ships and also the possible design of some future carriers..the tri hulled design.

I have one problem with this after reading the article and some related links for this company Austal.

Tell me that this is not an aluminum hulled or aluminum structure on this ship?? Tell me it is not so?? I hope you know what the deal is with aluminum ships after the Falklands Island war.

This shipyard built about 5 nuclear powered Cruisers some 25 years ago. They are all decomissioned since. They did not stay long in service because of their aluminum superstructures. Could it be that the Navy has not learned their lesson here??

Thanks,
Orangetom

upload.wikimedia.org...

found that one on wikki of all places

and orange , im sorry to say that the entire hull is aluminium

www.al.com.../base/news/1209287857184950.xml&coll=3

Austal is part of a General Dynamics-led team that built the aluminum-hulled Independence, or LCS-2. The LCS-1, Freedom, is a steel-hulled ship being built by a Lockheed Martin Corp. team in Wisconsin.

for review:

www.globalsecurity.org...

FIRST OF ALL, MODERN WARSHIP CONSTRUCTION HAS
UNTIL NOW FAVOURED LIGHT AND USUALLY HIGHLY FLAMMABLE
TOXIC MATERIALS. DAMAGE CONTROL AND FIREFIGHTING WAS
SO DIFFICULT THAT ON AT LEAST TWO OCCASIONS THE SHIP
HAD TO BE ABANDONED AND LATER SANK. THE USE OF
ALUMINUM IN THE SUPERSTRUCTURE IS UNDER REVIEW, WHILE
OTHER MATERIALS SUCH AS MATTRESSES ARE NOW FIRE
RETARDENT.
THE VALUE OF ANTIFLASH PROTECTION FOR HEAD AND
HANDS WAS CLEARLY ILLUSTRATED. THE MAN-MADE FIBRE
OVERALLS MELTED TO THE SKIN AND CONTRIBUTED TO MANY
SERIOUS INJURIES. NATURAL FIBRE OVERALLS ARE NOW
ISSUED.

Actually my friend's husband is stationed on this ship, they have been waiting around in San Diego for forever to, I guess, "get on".. I believe he left a few weeks ago.

Another 'fabulous' thing is that there is only going to be about 30-50 crewmembers and computers run the whole ship. She said apparently it is a 'walking' (for lack of a better word) safety disaster waiting to happen.. I guess their are fans that can't be covered and people can be easily sucked in.. and I guess if there is a fire on the ship at all, well, pretty much the ship will not be of any use anymore... lots and lots and lots of money, I would say wasted but I don't know so far, guess we shall see!

She sure is a beauty compared the other ships that I was on...

Kinda has the stealth boat look to it. Man, that's one beauty for sure, bet those boys are proud to have that thing sailing out.

reply to post by orangetom1999


link

link

wiki

here's some for you

Hey Folks,

Thanks for the followup informations and links. Very intresting. I must make haste with this post before begining some labors around here..prior to shoving off for the day.

Something I did not consider last night before posting in my excitement at realizing this was an aluminum hulled ship.

It occured to me ..to question...

What is the power plant configuration of this ship..also the rudder configuration. I ask this because when you consider the overall layout of all the photos offered to the public...you see no pictures of the stern while the ship is out of the water.

Is this a variable pitch propellor..one or two of them? How about rudders..one or two??

Are the rudders,if there are two, on the outboard part of the trimarans??

Is it a pump jet..one or two?? I think this is a diesel set up..??? Correct. Diesels are today..often set up with variable pitch wheels for effeciency..especially at the cost of diesel fuel.

It is pretty obvious that this ship is built with stealth and speed in mind. I dont know all the physics of it..but this is the appearance here.

Just some food for thought.

Thanks,
Orangetom

reply to post by orangetom1999


en.wikipedia.org...

2 Gas Turbines, 2 Diesel, 4 waterjets, retractable Azimuth thruster, 4 diesel generators

40+ knots, 47 knots (54 mph/87 km/h) sprint

Yep its diesel alright.

reply to post by orangetom1999


You don't work for the Russians or the Chinese there do you Orangetom??

I know that with the subs the various details - for instance the propeller design are top secret for a long time after the tub has been launched.

Don't know if its quite the same for surface vessels - but a sonar operator would probably love to know some of those things...

Anit she beautiful... too bad she will die from Rust before any Enemy Grows the balls to attack.

What would be a better Material for Building Ships???

Aluminum is used for preumiably its light wieght for top speed?

Would you use Steel or what???

Originally posted by TKainZero
Anit she beautiful... too bad she will die from Rust before any Enemy Grows the balls to attack.

you do know aluminium doesn`t rust?

Its an interesting design and you can see the heartige from theSea Shadow

The issue is that while aluminum cannot rust it can ignite and can be almost as hard to put out as magnesium, it also has a much lower melting point that steel.

Not sure I would want to crew a ship like that



[edit on 4/30/08 by FredT]

reply to post by FredT


Guess it's, like many things, a compromise.

Take the advantages/disadvantages given by one route of design and compare them to the advantages/disadvantages of another.

Reading that back to my self I feel I may of wasted time pointing out the obvious.. never mind I'm a simple person and I wish the world was a simpler place.

reply to post by FredT


as i mentioned above - the brits learnt the hard way about aluminium fires and about nylon gloves as well (

Originally posted by FredT
The issue is that while aluminum cannot rust it can ignite and can be almost as hard to put out as magnesium, it also has a much lower melting point that steel.

Well i think the use of smaller French and Russian anti ship cruise missiles ( as opposed to majority of Russian cruise missiles which are much larger with warheads three -5 times the size ) have shown that simply getting hit is enough for a mission kill and will lead to loss of the ship if you can't deal with the fires quickly.

Not sure I would want to crew a ship like that

I think in modern naval combat it may be all about avoiding getting hit and since the consequences of a failure to do so will probably result in a ship that will have no chance to reach harbor, in a world war scenario, you may just as well use the cheapest hull material you can and maximize the weight of offense/defensive and operational systems. Much like the decision not to provide vests to a good proportion of US infantrymen during the Normandy invasion, it was decided that it was simply too bulky and restricted movement and mobility too much, some people in the USN/pentagon may have decided that stealthy features and higher speed will aid survival more than steel hulls would. Obviously this could just be another instance of the lowest bidder getting away with future murder but i don't profess to know if that's the case here!

So now you can say that you know what i think. Armor your submarines like there's no tomorrow but anything that floats should concentrate on offensive and or defensive weaponry as they are most certainly going to be the targets of submerged, surfaced and aerial attack.

Stellar

[edit on 1-5-2008 by StellarX]

reply to post by galatea


What fans are these? These ships are supposed to be crewed by roughly 75, not 30. Mission specific personnel would add to that number.

I took some pictures of this thing on Sunday.
I have qty 6) - 8mp images ready to be spliced if someone wants to do it.

I have a friend who was in charge of a welding crew and has been telling me about this thing for a while now without giving any "details"

The engines are described as HUGE turbines. From what I understand, this thing is also "stealth". You can see the resemblance of other stealth capable machines.
It drew quite a crowd while it was parked out front.

I was actually coming here to post some pics but I have a profile (pieces to be spliced for a big one if wanted), a back shot and a 45 from across the river I shot with a 500mm lens.

I can't see any other purpose for this thing other than to be a courier with the capability of getting large, mean weapons close to a point without flight. A stealth carrier almost..

I'm not so much a buff in weaponry though so I'm just flingin thoughts.

b


[edit on 1-5-2008 by Bspiracy]

No aluminium doesn't rust but it does oxidise, particularly in contact with a salt water environment.

I would bet on steel lasting longer in a marine environment so what are they using as corrosion inhibitor, paint, anodising whatever it is has to be pretty good stuff.

On the other hand maybe this is a new kind of alloy that has very good corrosion resistance.

Talking of fire fighting and aluminium the higher the magnesium content the worst the reaction is to water when combusting, ie explosive.

If this ship was built with conventional steel, it wouldn't be a littoral combat ship....it would be a littoral lumbering mini-battleship, cruising along at a brisk 26 knots at full speed.

Speed and a shallow draft require a light weigh design. This vessel, in effect, is a very large and complex corvette. One does not maximize armor protection on a corvette. The only reason its so big is because it must be able to transit the Atlantic and Pacific by itself.

And aluminum construction does not necessarily condemn a vessel to the deep if it takes substantial battle damage. One on has to look at the examples of the USS Stark and the USS Samuel B. Roberts to see that the key to surviving battle damage is a well training and motivated crew. Granted, both ships were out of action for the duration, but as it has been previously suggested, almost all ships will be put out of effective action for long periods if they suck up a few ASCMs or hit a large mine, irregardless of size and armor.

ALso, lets not forget its mission: mine warfare, ASW agaisnt littorally deployed diesel boats, anti-terrorism and anti-piracy warfare, intelligence, scouting, and deploying UAVs. ASUW and AAW are not on the list. For its mission, it has a need for speed and stealth, not protection and firepower.