Gentlemen, start your engines
June 9th, 2009 | Ships | Posted by Phil Ewing
Navy/ LCS 2 docked in Mobile, Ala. in May, 2008
They’ve fired up the main engines aboard the littoral combat ship Independence, we learned Monday, marking the first time all the elements of the complex engineering plant had been online together. Unlike the rest of the ships in the Navy, which are powered by a single kind of powerplant — gas turbines, steam boilers, diesels or nuclear reactors — the LCSes have two: COmbined Diesel And Gas turbines. But not the same ones.
Independence has twin MTU diesels and twin General Electric LM 2500 gas turbines. Freedom has twin Colt-Pielstick diesels and twin Rolls Royce MT 30 gas turbines. Both LCSes are designed to cruise on their diesels below about 18 knots, then add the turbines to hit the high speeds for which they were designed, at “full CODAG power.” Freedom’s current speed record is 47 knots, the fastest in the Navy. Independence hasn’t left its pier yet, but it’s built to be just as quick.
But these complex engineering plants can be troublesome to operate, as the crew of the Freedom found out when it had to make an unscheduled stop during its maiden voyage after commissioning. And in exchange for their high speeds, the LCSes are going to burn an awful lot of fuel.
As Independence gets closer to sea trials and commissioning, the Navy will begin (again) learning and re-learning about what the ship can do, much as it has with LCS 1. One factor is already apparent, though — being inside of LCS 2 feels like living inside a burrito.