The commanding officer of the US Navy’s (USN’s) first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) told reporters on 11 March that the smooth transit across the Pacific Ocean thus far is proving out concepts of operation for the new ship class.
Ten days into its maiden deployment, USS Freedom (LCS 1) sailed into Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to make a scheduled port call – its first stop on the way to Southeast Asia.
“The trip over was wonderful,” Commander Timothy Wilke told reporters on arrival. “We had some seas out there, but that’s what you always see out in the Pacific. We actually arrived a day early off the coast here.”
Carrying a surface warfare package including two 11 m rigid hull inflatable boats, a 19-man maritime interdiction operations detachment, along with an aviation detachment to fly an MH-60R, Freedom is en route to Singapore, where it is expected to participate in the International Maritime Defence Exhibition and Conference (IMDEX) as well as regional training exercises with partner navies.
Admiral Cecil Haney, commander of US Pacific Fleet, told reporters at the same briefing that LCS is a key part of the US pivot to the Asia-Pacific region; 16 ships are planned for the Pacific Fleet.
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USS Freedom"s maiden deployment to Southeast Asia: So far, so good, CO says
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