littoral combat ship

[Lofty]

I suppose its simply a miltary version of the novel Australian ferry designs ?
Lofty

[torres1944]

The USA’s New Littoral Combat Ships  - Trimaran LCS Design
 

Exploit simplicity, numbers, the pace of technology development in electronics and robotics, and fast reconfiguration. That was the US Navy’s idea for the low-end backbone of its future surface combatant fleet. Inspired by successful experiments like Denmark’s Standard Flex ships, the US Navy’s $30+ billion “Littoral Combat Ship” program was intended to create a new generation of affordable surface combatants that could operate in dangerous shallow and near-shore environments, while remaining affordable and capable throughout their lifetimes.

It hasn’t worked that way. In practice, what the Navy wanted, the capabilities needed to perform primary naval missions, and what could be delivered for the sums available, have proven nearly irreconcilable. The LCS program has changed its fundamental acquisition plan several times since 2005, and canceled contracts with both competing teams, without escaping any of its fundamental issues.

  Within this year, the US Navy would be select between two designs (conventional LCS-1 "Freedom" or trimaran LCS-2 "Independence" in order to construct a serie of ten LCS.  The first attempt to export the design of the LCS-1 to Israel, failed:  last year Israel had decided to construct a  pair of frigates taking as basis a  german MEKO 200 project.  The LCS concept is too expensive for Israel.

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/the-usas-new-littoral-combat-ships-updated-01343/#modules

[xbilgerat]

For those who have been on the beach for an extended period the comparison between the latest warships and those of earlier times is amost like comparing sail and steam. The latest creation from Uncle Sam is an example of the new look and the video is worth watching. A design involving CAD I reckon. It does tend to remove the feeling of being 'at sea' I imagine with limited vision and no rock and roll, such is progress.


"MOBILE, Ala. — Inside and out, the new littoral combat ship Independence is like few other warships ever put into service. The severe angles of the unpainted aluminum trimaran give way inside to a spacious interior covered by aluminum-foil-like fire-protection cladding — the effect of which gives one the sense of being surrounded by a burrito wrapper"

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/01/navy_insidelook_lcs2_011110w/