For the past week on AIS, this has been “govt vessel 5,” and she’s currently in Stapleton taking on fuel.
Clearly she’s a Freedom-class LCS, with its distinctive bow-low profile. It’s powered by four engines: 2 x Fairbanks Morse/ Colt-Pielstick 9,100 hp diesels plus two 2 x Rolls-Royce 48,000 hp gas turbines run through four Rolls-Royce/Kamewa waterjets. For routine cruising, I was told on my tour yesterday, only the diesels run. For sprints, all four are on line.
Tours were open to the public in Stapleton the past few days.
The vessel has no curves, but neither does it have many right angles.
The explanation offered for the large flight deck is that as a relatively small vessel, it rolls/pitches/etc. in a sea. The additional space is appreciated by helicopter and drone operators.
I’d love to have seen the engine room, but this is as close to the engine I got.
Here’s the view back toward the bridge, as seen from between the anchor machinery and the deck gun.
And finally, some views from the helm and
assorted screen, indicators, and the four engine controls.
All photos, WVD.
Below is an article from Saturday’s NYTimes, and the women of the fleet.
tugster: a waterblog 
6 comments
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May 31, 2022 at 12:08 pm
Les Sonnenmark
You’re not looking at the four engine controls. They are duplicate sets of port/starboard propulsion train controls, so either of the two helmsmen can take control. When in full auto mode, the helmsman moves the levers to set ship speed and thrust direction; the propulsion control system starts/stops the engines as needed and operates the engine and waterjet clutches to suit. The control heads also rotate to steer the ship by directing waterjet thrust.
May 31, 2022 at 12:40 pm
tugster
Les– Thanks for the correction.
May 31, 2022 at 2:11 pm
William Lafferty
The Milwaukee LCS 5 and seven others of the Freedom class are to be decommissioned later this year, that group commissioned between 2012 and 2020. The Milwaukee was commissioned 21 November 2015. Our tax dollars at work. The vessels’ consistent clutch problems and hull cracks, as well as the complete failure of the submarine detection equipment the vessels were to tow, rendered them not combat-worthy, and now the navy wants to build a fleet of Constellation-class frigates (an old school notion) to replace what were to be the warships of the future. Ha! And the navy wants Marinette Marine, builder of this forsaken class, to build the new Constellation class! The navy is (and I am not making this up) considering giving away the whole fleet of the Freedom-class to South American nations for drug interdiction. If Lockheed Martin couldn’t come up with a fix for these things, I doubt Colombia or Guyana will be able to do so. At least the good folks on Green Bay are doing well, as is the Italian bank Cassa Depositi e Presseti SpA that owns 72% of Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri (which owns Marinette Marine), which itself is wholly owned by the Italian government through Ministerio dell’Economia e delle Finanze, the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, meaning the United States, in essence, now contracts out the construction of its war vessels to another government. Was any of this mentioned during your tour, Will?
May 31, 2022 at 2:16 pm
tugster
William– You’re the second person to ask me that, the first via the comments section. And the answer is . . . . drum roll . . . not as word. Was USS Duluth just christened in its namesake city last weekend?
May 31, 2022 at 4:02 pm
William Lafferty
Well, the Minneapolis-St. Paul was commissioned at Duluth, closest it could get to the Twin Cities, on 21 May 2022. It was launched and christened almost three years ago. Right now there are four sitting at Marinette collecting seagull droppings and one on the ways: Cooperstown LCS 23 launched January 2021, Marinette LCS 25 launched October 2021, Nantucket LCS 27 launched August 2021, Beloit LCS 29 launched three weeks ago, and Cleveland LCS 31, laid down a year ago. None of the first four has been commissioned. Marinette has begun work on the Constellation FFG 62, lead ship for the “new” guided missile frigates, with options to build nine more. Marinette is also now building four littoral combat vessels known as MMSCs (for multi-mission surface combatant )but based upon the LCS design for the Saudi navy. Good luck with that, MBS!
May 31, 2022 at 4:07 pm
tugster
Thx, William. Sometimes my reading comprehension skills are terrible. All along I thought that new LCS was the USS Duluth, even though I’m sure I read otherwise any number of times. Yikes . . . thx for keeping me accurate!