USS ''Fort Worth'' (LCS-3) is a
littoral combat ship
The littoral combat ship (LCS) is either of two classes of relatively small surface vessels designed for operations near shore by the United States Navy. It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeat ...
of the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
. She is the first ship to be named after
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...
, the 13th-largest city in the United States.
On 20 June 2020, the US Navy announced that they would be taking ''Fort Worth'' out of commission in March 2022, and placing her, along with , , and in reserve.
On 18 June 2021, ''Naval News'' reported that ''Fort Worth'' would be inactivated in FY 2022 and put on the Out of Commission in Reserve (OCIR) list.
Design
In 2002, the U.S. Navy initiated a program to develop the first of a fleet of
littoral combat ship
The littoral combat ship (LCS) is either of two classes of relatively small surface vessels designed for operations near shore by the United States Navy. It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface combatant capable of defeat ...
s.
The Navy initially ordered two monohull ships from
Lockheed Martin, which became known as the ''Freedom''-class littoral combat ships after the first ship of the class, .
Odd-numbered U.S. Navy littoral combat ships are built using the ''Freedom''-class monohull design, while even-numbered ships are based on a competing design, the
trimaran hull from
General Dynamics.
The initial order of littoral combat ships involved a total of four ships, including two of the ''Freedom''-class design.
''Fort Worth'' is the second ''Freedom''-class littoral combat ship to be built.
''Fort Worth'' includes additional stability improvements over the original ''Freedom'' design; the stern transom was lengthened and buoyancy tanks were added to the stern to increase weight service and enhance stability.
The ship will also feature automated sensors to allow "conditions-based maintenance" and reduce crew overwork and fatigue issues that ''Freedom'' had on her first deployment.
Construction and career
The ship's name was announced 6 March 2009.
This was after a long public relations campaign by United States Representative
Kay Granger
Norvell Kay Granger (; born January 18, 1943) is an American Republican politician from the U.S. state of Texas. She has represented the state's 12th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997. She has been the ranki ...
, former Deputy Defense Secretary
Gordon R. England, and others.
[ ]
''Fort Worth'' was built by Lockheed Martin at
Marinette Marine shipyard in
Marinette, Wisconsin
Marinette is a city in and the county seat of Marinette County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the south bank of the Menominee River, at its mouth at Green Bay, part of Lake Michigan; to the north is Stephenson Island, part of th ...
.
Her
keel
The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...
was laid in a
ceremony on 11 July 2009.
The 80% completed ship was launched by the contractor on 4 December 2010. The vessel underwent sea trials in
Lake Michigan during late 2011, with the completion of these trials announced on 24 October 2011. The ship successfully completed her acceptance trials, which also took place on Lake Michigan, on 4 May 2012. The inspectors found only ten severe deficiencies during the trials, an "exponential" improvement over ''Freedom''.
''Fort Worth'' was
commissioned at
Galveston, Texas on 22 September 2012. She has been assigned to
Littoral Combat Ship Squadron One
In November 2013, ''Fort Worth'' conducted successful live-fire tests of her and cannons against small boat targets conducting swarm attacks. ''Fort Worth'' was moving fast through the water and assisted by an
MH-60R
The Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk (or Sea Hawk) is a twin turboshaft engine, multi-mission United States Navy helicopter based on the United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk and a member of the Sikorsky S-70 family. The most significant modificat ...
helicopter. The ship's fire control system locked on to and fired on the small maneuvering boats in day and night situations with optical sights. The helicopter provided radar targeting which was passed on to the ship's fire control system. ''Fort Worth'' conducted additional evaluations of her surface warfare technologies in early 2014 in scenarios involving small boat swarms, engagements with the 57 mm gun, and search and seizure exercises. Evaluations were successful and validated the surface warfare mission package on the ship.
In November 2013, ''Fort Worth'' became the first LCS to test operations with the
Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout
The Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout is an unmanned autonomous helicopter developed by Northrop Grumman for use by the United States Armed Forces. The Fire Scout is designed to provide reconnaissance, situational awareness, aerial fire support ...
, a critical capacity for the LCS program.
On 10 September 2014, the commander of the
U.S. 7th Fleet announced that ''Fort Worth'' would deploy to the Asia-Pacific region in January 2015. The ship will be used to expand operational envelopes that were not done by the previous deployment of USS ''Freedom'' to the region, particularly concerning the mine counter measures (MCM) package. Emphasis on MCM is based on periodic provocations made by North Korea, which has deployed sea mines around the peninsula that have sunk South Korean vessels in the past, so the Navy wants to test the MCM mission in and around the
Korean peninsula
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
. Another area of focus is to use the ship to provide "non-traditional" maritime lift for
U.S. Marines
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...
due to constraints in the number of big deck amphibious vessels available to the 7th Fleet. Operational trials made by ''Freedom'' also showed the potential to improve vertical lift replenishment in shallow waters. She deployed with the surface warfare mission-equipment package and was the first LCS deployment with the MQ-8B.
![USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) arrives to JBPHH 141124-N-WF272-002](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/USS_Fort_Worth_%28LCS_3%29_arrives_to_JBPHH_141124-N-WF272-002.jpg)
''Fort Worth'' departed her homeport of
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
on 17 November 2014 for a 16-month rotational deployment to
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
in support of the U.S. Navy's strategic rebalance to the Pacific. The ship is the first LCS to deploy under the "3-2-1" manning concept, swapping fully trained crews roughly every four months. Under this concept three rotational crews will support two LCS ships and maintain one deployed ship. ''Fort Worth'' also deploys with an aviation detachment from Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 35 (HSM-35) "Magicians", the U.S. Navy's first composite expeditionary helicopter squadron. The aviation detachment will consist of one
MH-60R Seahawk helicopter and one
Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout
The Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout is an unmanned autonomous helicopter developed by Northrop Grumman for use by the United States Armed Forces. The Fire Scout is designed to provide reconnaissance, situational awareness, aerial fire support ...
unmanned autonomous helicopter. ''Fort Worth'' reached the 7th Fleet area of responsibility on 4 December 2014. The ship is expected to remain in the area until March 2016. It will be the longest deployment of a U.S. warship in 42 years, since the
aircraft carrier was under way for 327 days in 1973. The long deployment is to stress the Navy’s logistics capabilities and identify potential problems. Once the deployment is completed, ''Freedom'' will take the ship's place, returning to the area again.
On 31 December 2014, ''Fort Worth'' was dispatched from Singapore to the
Java Sea to take part in the search for
Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501
Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Indonesia AirAsia from Surabaya, Java, Indonesia, to Singapore. On 28 December 2014, the Airbus A320 flying the route crashed into the Java Sea, killing ...
that crashed on 28 December. On 3 January 2015 she arrived in the area to commence search efforts alongside the
destroyer at the request of the Indonesian government. The maneuverability and shallow draft of the design allowed her to conduct expeditious visual and radar searches in the congested, shallow water environment. Both ships concluded search efforts on 15 January 2015 after performing 650 combined search hours. ''Fort Worth'' provided unique capabilities over the larger ''Sampson'', and employed her two RHIBs in 107 hours of operations. A team from
Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit One was embarked on the ship, operating three Tow Fish side scan sonar systems to search for wreckage during 78 hours over , the AN/PQS-2A passive sonar to listen for black box pings during 17 hours over , and a
remotely operated vehicle
A remotely operated underwater vehicle (technically ROUV or just ROV) is a tethered underwater mobile device, commonly called ''underwater robot''.
Definition
This meaning is different from remote control vehicles operating on land or in the a ...
to investigate objects.
![Littoral Combat Ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) (22120603990)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Littoral_Combat_Ship_USS_Fort_Worth_%28LCS_3%29_%2822120603990%29.jpg)
On 13 May 2015 the Chinese foreign ministry sent a complaint to the United States after ''Fort Worth'' made
freedom of navigation
Freedom of navigation (FON) is a principle of law of the sea that ships flying the flag of any sovereign state shall not suffer interference from other states, apart from the exceptions provided for in international law. In the realm of internat ...
passage near
Spratly Islands
The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...
claimed by China. During her deployment to the
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...
, ''Fort Worth'' encountered several warships of the
People's Liberation Army Navy, putting the new rules of the
Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea
The Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) is an agreement reached at the 2014 Western Pacific Naval Symposium to reduce the chance of an incident at sea between the countries in the agreement, and — in the event that one occurs — to p ...
into practice in a "professional" manner.
On 12 January 2016, according to a memo from the service, it was reported that ''Fort Worth'' was sidelined in port at
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
indefinitely because of damage to gears that propel the vessel, which resulted from a failure to use enough lubricating oil. As a result, on 28 March 2016,
CDR Michael Atwell, the commander of LCS crew 101 (the LCS is manned by a rotating crew), was relieved of duty and was temporarily replaced by CDR Lex Walker, deputy commodore of
Destroyer Squadron 7
Destroyer Squadron 7 (DesRon 7) is a naval unit of the United States Navy stationed in Singapore. It is assigned to the United States Seventh Fleet.
Command history
1920-1922
Destroyer Squadron 7 (DesRon 7) was first established in September 1 ...
. The Navy cited the reason for CDR Atwell's removal was "due to a due to loss of confidence in Atwell's ability to command," stemming from initial findings into the incident that sidelined ''Fort Worth''. It is estimated that the repairs to ''Fort Worth'' would cost between $20 and $30 million according to defense officials, and it was feared that the ship would need to be
heavy-lifted back from Singapore to San Diego so she can be repaired during her scheduled overhaul. However, the USN announced on 13 April 2016, that ''Fort Worth'' would transit back to San Diego on her gas turbines instead, with the journey scheduled for summer 2016. It was expected that ''Fort Worth'' would take six weeks to travel from Singapore to San Diego with several underway replenishments and planned fueling stops along the way. However, a subsequent assessment found that the damage to ''Fort Worth'' was less severe than initially believed, and her engines were repaired in Singapore by late July ahead of returning to the United States for further repairs.
In February 2020 it was announced that the Navy planned to retire ''Fort Worth'' and her sister ship ''Freedom'' after eight and twelve years of service respectively. She was scheduled to be decommissioned 31 March 2021 As of April 2022, the ship is still active and in commission, and Congress has blocked the Navy from retiring the ship in Fiscal Year 2022.
Awards
*
Battle E The Battle Effectiveness Award (formerly the Battle Efficiency Award, commonly known as the Battle "E"), is awarded annually to the small number of United States Navy ships, submarines, aviation, and other units that win their battle effectiveness c ...
, 2013
References
*
External links
USS Fort Worth Official WebsiteFootage of USS Fort Worth side launch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort Worth (Lcs-3)
2010 ships
Freedom-class littoral combat ships
Lockheed Martin