On LCS, everyone is going Salamander

Yes, I get bored with thumping this drum ... OK, I don't.

We need to drag this out on a regular basis as an example to others. "See what they did with LCS, well ... don't do that."

For the new readers, you can click the LCS tag for ~ a decade of commentary on this Little Crappy Ship if you wish. 

Yes, good people in hard jobs are doing the best they can to make something out of this - but it is an exercise in institutional de-optimization that didn't have to be, except that we followed the path of loyalty to personalities pushing ahistoric and fanciful theories, vice loyalty to institutions and proven requirements.

BTW - I'd really like to see that report non-FOUO'd now that Tony Capaccio at Bloomberg has it.

U.S. Navy officers in the Pacific fleet say the service’s Littoral Combat Ship may lack the speed, range and electronic warfare capabilities needed to operate in Asian waters, according to a congressional audit.

“Several 7th Fleet officials told us they thought the LCS in general might be better suited to operations” in the smaller Persian Gulf, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a 56-page report, labeled “For Official Use Only,” obtained by Bloomberg News.
...
The Navy should consider buying fewer of the ships if its limitations prevent effective use in the Pacific, according to the report by GAO, Congress’s watchdog agency. The report follows others that have questioned the cost, mission and survivability in combat of the ship that’s designed to operate in shallow coastal waters.
...
The first two vessels -- one from each maker -- are overweight, resulting in “not meeting performance requirements” for endurance or sprinting over 40 knots (74 kilometers per hour), the GAO said.

“This situation has led the Navy to accept lower than minimum requirements” on the two ships, the report said.
...
The GAO reviewed the 10-month deployment to Singapore last year of the USS Freedom, a ship built by Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed.
...
The Freedom’s stay was marred by 55 days lost due to mechanical problems with gears, hydraulics, generators and water jets, “which is a significant portion of its” deployment, the agency said.

In a tough position, I think this PAO played the ball as best that could be,

Lieutenant Caroline Hutcheson, a Navy spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed statement that the service was aware the report was coming out and expects “it to cover areas already being collaboratively addressed by the Navy and industry.”

“We continuously refine and test the LCS program to learn the full extent of possibilities for these first-of-a-kind ships,” she said. “We’ve incorporated engineering modifications which improve performance and continue to look at the concept of employment, as exemplified” by a recent war game.