A repair bill of an estimated $23 million and months out of action. That’s the cost to U.S. taxpayers and the Navy after the four-year-old littoral combat ship USS Forth Worth tried to operate its propulsion system without enough oil in January.
The Navy announced Wednesday that the $360 million vessel would make a six-week-long journey this summer from Singapore, where it has been tied up since the incident, to San Diego for repairs to its combining gears, the hardware that transfers power from the ship’s diesel and gas turbine engines to its water-jet propulsion system.
“The casualty occurred due to an apparent failure to follow procedures during an operational test of the port and starboard main propulsion diesel engines,” said the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in a statement issued earlier this year.
Photos: Meet the littoral combat ship
U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Keith DeVinney/Released
The USS Independence (LCS 2), left, and USS Coronado (LCS 4) steam in the Pacific Ocean. The two are of the Independence variant LCS. Ships of this variant are 416.8 feet in length with a beam of 103.7 feet and a displacement of 3,100 metric tons.
Photos: Meet the littoral combat ship
U.S. Navy
The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) returns to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii in 2010.
Photos: Meet the littoral combat ship
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Conor Minto/Released
The USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) conducts patrols in international waters of the South China Sea near the Spratly Islands as the Chinese guided-missile frigate Yancheng follows. The Fort Worth is a Freedom variant LCS. Ships of this variant are 387.6 feet in length with a beam of 57.7 feet and a displacement of 3,400 metric tons. Click through the gallery to see more of the LCS classes.
Photos: Meet the littoral combat ship
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Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus speaks in Gulfport, Mississippi, at the christening ceremony for the USS Jackson in December 2015.
Photos: Meet the littoral combat ship
From Lockheed Martin
The future USS Little Rock (LCS-9) was christened and launched into the Menominee River in Marinette, Wisconsin, on July 18, 2015. The Little Rock is a Freedom variant littoral combat ship.
Photos: Meet the littoral combat ship
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Conor Minto
Chief Gunner's Mate Nicholas Bokan, assigned to Surface Warfare Mission Package, Detachment 1, embarked aboard the littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), rigs a caving ladder on the flight deck during a visit, board, search, and seizure training drill.
Photos: Meet the littoral combat ship
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The littoral combat ship USS Independence (LCS 2) conducts maneuvers with the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) during Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise 2014.
Photos: Meet the littoral combat ship
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Antonio P. Turretto Ramos
Boatswain's Mate 2nd Class Adam Garnett, from Anchorage, Alaska, signals an AH-1 Cobra helicopter from Marine Air Group (MAG) 24 during deck landing qualification training aboard the USS Fort Worth (LCS 3). The LCSs are designed to support air operations by both helicopters and helicopter drones.
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U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tim D. Godbee
A rigid-hull inflatable boat prepares to enter the littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS 1) during training off the coast of Southern California.
Photos: Meet the littoral combat ship
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Antonio P. Turretto Ramos
Sailors assigned to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 35 prepare an MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aircraft system for flight operations aboard the littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3).
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U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Katarzyna Kobiljak
Sailors assigned to Surface Warfare Detachment Four of the littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) Crew 102 prepare to board a naval training vessel.
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U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Antonio P. Turretto Ramos
Chief Fire Controlman Beth Simpson-Fuchs moves 57 mm rounds aboard the littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) while in port at Changi Naval Base Singapore. The 57mm gun is part of the LCS's core ship weapons.
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U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Antonio Turretto
Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Andrew Thomasy and Fire Controlman 1st Class Waylon Clement, assigned to Surface Warfare Detachment 3, load high-explosive incendiary tracer rounds into the ammunition feeder-can of a 30mm weapons system aboard the littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3). The 30mm guns are part of the LCS surface warfare package.
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U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Zachary D. Bell
A Kongsberg Naval Strike Missile is launched from the littoral combat ship USS Coronado (LCS 4) during missile testing operations off the coast of Southern California in September 2014. The missile scored a direct hit on a mobile ship target.
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U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Conor Minto
An MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aircraft system from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 35 performs ground turns aboard the USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) in May 2015.
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U.S. Navy photo/Released
An aerial view of the future littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10), an Independence variant during its launch sequence in February 2015 at the Austal USA shipyard. The Navy has plans for 20 littoral combat ships.
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U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Daniel M. Young/Released
The littoral combat ship USS Independence (LCS 2) demonstrates its maneuvering capabilities in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego. LCS crew commander John Kochendorfer described the ships as "a military jet ski with a flight deck and a gun."
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Lockheed-Martin
The littoral combat ship USS Sioux City (LCS 11) is prepared for launch at the Lockheed-Martin facility in Marinette, Wisconsin.
“During start up of the main propulsion diesel engines, lube oil was not properly supplied to the ship’s combining gears as required by ship’s operating procedures,” said Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a Navy spokesman. “The insufficient flow of lube oil resulted in high temperature alarms on the port and starboard combining gears.”
The Navy’s $23 million cost estimate for the USS Fort Worth covers already underway maintenance, transiting from Singapore to San Diego and scheduled repairs and maintenance once the ship reaches its home port, according to Hawkins.
“Preparations are expected to take several months to complete necessary inspections, conduct lube oil system flushes and configure the engineering plant for safe operations,” a Pacific Fleet statement said.
The 388-foot, 3,400-ton Fort Worth will make the 8,900-mile trans-Pacific voyage using just the power from the gas turbine engines, meaning it will be slower and require several more refueling and supply stops that would normally be the case, the Navy said.
Putting as bright a face as it could on the incident, the Navy said the Fort Worth’s repair time in San Diego would coincide with a planned maintenance period in its home port.
The incident cost the then-commander of the Fort Worth, Cmdr. Michael L. Atwell, his job in late March when the Navy announced Atwell was being reassigned to LCS squadron duties in San Diego.
“Sufficient findings of facts emerged during the investigation to warrant the relief of the commanding officer,” the Pacific Fleet said in a statement at the time.
The mechanical mishap on the Fort Worth came shortly after a similar mistake on its sister ship, the USS Milwaukee, which broke down in the Atlantic Ocean on December 10, less than a month after it was commissioned. The ship had to be towed 40 miles to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia.
The Navy said at the time that metallic debris was found in filter systems in the ship, causing a loss of pressure in lubricant to gears that transfer power from the ship’s diesel and gas turbine engines to its water jet propulsion system.
Navy officials later explained what happened in an email to CNN.
The Milwaukee “is designed to operate with gas turbine and diesel engines, which can operate in tandem or independently,” Navy Lt. Rebecca Haggard said. “In the case of Milwaukee, when switching from one system to the other, a clutch failed to disengage as designed. Instead, the clutch remained spinning and some of the clutch gears were damaged.”
The Milwaukee has undergone repairs and in late February steamed from Virginia to Mayport, Florida, where the Navy said it would take on additional equipment for testing this spring before proceeding to its home port in San Diego.
The Navy’s littoral combat ships come in two variants: the monohull and the trimaran. The Fort Worth and Milwaukee are monohulls. With a draft of between 14 and 15 feet and a speed of 40 knots, the ships are designed to operate in littoral environments, or shallower coastal areas.
