The Freedom class USS (PCU) Cooperstown, LCS-23, was laid down in Aug 2018 and launched in Jan 2020. The ship is not yet commissioned.
The Navy has awarded a $25M contract to BAE Systems Jacksonville Ship Repair LLC, Jacksonville, Florida to perform a post-shakedown availability (PSA). PSA’s are performed to fix all the things that should have been working prior to delivery but weren’t or that broke during trials.
… post-shakedown availability will include correction of trial card deficiencies, new work identified between custody transfer and the time of the availability and incorporation incorporation of approved engineering changes not addressed under the building yard's construction contract.[1]
Why is the Navy accepting ships with known deficiencies (trial cards)? Would you?
Given that an LCS costs around $500M, depending on what you want to include or exclude, the $25M PSA represents an additional 5% of the ship’s total cost, added to the procurement cost for things that should have been corrected before delivery and at the manufacturer’s expense.
Cooperstown’s PSA work is expected to be completed by Mar 2024. Does it really take two years to do a PSA? How incomplete and broken was this ship when it was delivered? And why did the Navy accept it if it requires two years of additional work to finish/repair?
On a related note, despite having been laid down in 2018 and completed acceptance trials (with known deficiencies !) in 2020, there is no commissioning date set, yet. We’re looking at six-plus years or so to build and commission a corvette size ship. WWII Flower class corvettes were commissioned around 9 months from being laid down. Yes, I know COVID issues impacted things but still … six-plus years to commission a modern corvette versus nine months?
I wish I could tell you that this was some kind of one-off fluke but it isn’t. This is routine. Would you buy a car with documented deficiencies (trial cards), take delivery, and then give it right back to the garage to finish/fix it for two years … all at your expense? Of course not! The Navy really needs to learn how to procure ships because they clearly haven’t got a clue.
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