Meet the Navy of the Future

The Littoral Combat Ship (LCS)

Purpose: This is a small, fast ship (capable of 45 knots) for sub-hunting, mine-clearing, and fighting small boats near coastlines—the littoral region. Each LCS would be equipped with one of three distinct mission modules: a set of plug-and-play ship sensors, missiles, small boats, unmanned underwater vehicles and specially equipped helicopters, for mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare or surface combat. The base configuration would include antimissile batteries and a medium-caliber gun. The ships could clear mines and chase subs away from an area before the rest of the fleet arrived.

Replaces: Analysts say the LCS is likely to replace 30 frigates and 14 mine-warfare ships.

Status: The Navy asked both Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics to create a ship, and the two companies came up with wildly different designs. Lockheed Martin’s USS Freedom, or LCS 1, which launched in September 2006, features a semi-planing hull designed to lift partially out of the water for lower friction at high speed. General Dynamics hopes to deliver its high-speed trimaran, the USS Independence, by mid-2008.

Prognosis: Iffy. According to a Government Accountability Office report, the Navy changed design requirements as LCS 1 was being built, leading to expensive reconfigurations and pushing costs from an estimated $472 million to $1 billion for the pair. The Navy canceled two follow-on ships, and the cost overruns jeopardize the anticipated 55-ship order—and by extension, the entire 30-year plan. As Robert Work of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments put it, “Until the Navy can prove that it can build affordable ships, it’s not clear that we can get to 313.”

The Destroyer (DDG 1000)

Purpose: This 14,500-ton destroyer’s mission is to pound enemy positions in support of troops onshore. The DDG 1000 features a “tumblehome” hull, which hasn’t been used by the world’s navies since two major sinkings in the early 1900s. Boosters say the design, which resembles an inverted V, will give the ship a stealthy, low-radar profile by deflecting radar signals skyward. Some critics argue that the broad base of the tumblehome hull makes the ship more likely to capsize in rough seas. But that’s up for debate.

“There’s a slight advantage to having an angled superstructure, in that your wind moment is actually a little bit less,” says David McMillan, president of Aker Yards Marine, a commercial-ship design company based in Vancouver. Translation: The same sloping design that helps keep the ship off radar screens should also make it less likely to capsize, because it will present less surface to be pushed over by winds. An electric drive system will create a single source of power for the DDG 1000. Gas turbine engines will create electricity that can be diverted for any task. Under full throttle, the ship’s power could be used mainly for propulsion; in battle, that power could be used to fire energy-intensive future weapons such rail guns, which launch projectiles using magnetic force.

Replaces: The Navy says the DDG 1000 is a new class of ship and thus won’t replace anything older. But some analysts believe it will fill the gap left by the retirement of Iowa-class battleships in the 1990s.

Status: The Navy has contracted Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics to each build a DDG 1000. The first, to be launched in 2011, will be the USS Zumwalt, and all future DDGs will be called Zumwalt-class.

Prognosis: The Navy plans to build seven DDG 1000s, and Congress has approved more than $6 billion for the two ships already commissioned.