Sid's LCS Seminar

One of the senior members of the Salamander Jirga, Sid, put out in comments earlier this week an outstanding perspective on the historical ignorance displayed by the whole LCS concept.

Being that I am a firm believer of the the critical importance of understanding history and its lessons, over the years pinging on LCS, I have tried to roll in as much of the lessons of the past as possible, but have not put this angle out. Shame on me, Sid just plain nails it.

Here we go: if you liked the Achilles's Heal of the Battlecruiser - you will love LCS.

She was a favorite project of the Admiral's...

She was to employ transformational technologies designed to greatly expand the eyes for the fleet...

Her signature characteristic was speed. The Admiral claimed, "speed equals protection"...

To achieve that speed, she was built light and nimble...

Even as she was becoming recognizable on the ways, other missions were envisioned. The name of the ship type was changed to reflect her transformational nature.

Steaming out of the channel on trials, her rakish good looks impressed all...

Some were concerned though. One analyst remarked that she will be put into a situation, "where her comparatively light protection will be at a disadvantage"...

That was then...

This is now...

She was a favorite project of the Admiral's...
"I need LCS tomorrow morning"...Adm. Vern Clark

She was to employ transformational technologies designed to greatly expand the eyes for the fleet...
"LCS is a transformational program. It provides the first capability we've had to really be able to perform in littoral regions the way we believe we're going to need to over the next many years given all the challenges that we see worldwide in littoral regions," said Secretary of the Navy, Donald C. Winter.

Her signature characteristic was speed. The Admiral claimed, "speed equals protection"...
What we've chosen to do here is couple high speed and maneuverability and situational awareness in ways that allow LCS to be in the right place at the right time and to be out of the right place at the wrong time."...RAdm Hamilton

To achieve that speed, she was built light and nimble...
"Because our desire for speed gets us to alternative and lighter materials, the damage tolerance for large cruise missiles for example are not the same as those on a DDG 51."...RAdm hamilton

Even as she was becoming recognizable on the ways, other missions were envisioned. The name of the ship type was changed to reflect her transformational nature.
"LCS was the product of an analytical virgin birth...." Robert Work

Steaming out of the channel on trials, her rakish good looks impressed all...
WINTER IMPRESSED WITH LCS-1...InsideDefense

Some were concerned though. One analyst remarked that she will be put into a situation, "where her comparatively light protection will be at a disadvantage"...
“Initial conclusions indicate manning levels do not portend success in a stressing mine warfare scenario."
Likewise, evaluators note that LCS is being built to the survivability standard of an auxiliary ship, rather than a combatant ship. DOT&E Report

Funny how History has a way of repeating itself...

So what was the ship of times past?

Jackie Fisher's Battlecruisers were the transformational darlings of a century ago.

Majestic ships, they can be forgiven their pretentious names like Invincible.

Like the LCS, they were intended to remake the way the fleet operated.

Like the LCS, there was a natural tendency to fit them into traditional roles for which they were not built.

RADM Hamilton eerily echoes Fisher's smug belief that they could "outrun any ships that they couldn't out-fight."

Not all were as sanguine. Barron Brassey worried that, "an admiral having Invincibles in his fleet will be certain to put them in the line of battle, where their comparatively light protection would be at a disadvantage".

Brassey was tragically prophetic. Adm. Beatty peered into the gloom at Jutland and pondered the loss of the Invincible and two other battle cruisers, he could only remark, "there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today."

Today, the Siren call of the supposed overarching advantages of speed -at the expense of other protection measures- can be heard again.

Chances are good that an LCS commander who believes, "the speed and maneuverability to evade an adversary or danger area" of his ships lessens the need for "extensive survivability systems" may well be heard eerily echoing Admiral Beatty as he peers out on a similar scene of carnage...

Game, set, match. Just can't find a gap in the parallel. Speed fetish seduces all generations it seems.

BZ Sid!