Rust never sleeps ... on LCS-2

I think we know one of the reasons why LCS-2 has an open tab at Singleton's.

The U.S. Navy has discovered “aggressive” corrosion in Austal Ltd. (ASB)’s first new combat ship designed for operating close to shore.

The corrosion is in the propulsion areas of the USS Independence, the Littoral Combat Ship built by the Mobile, Alabama-based subsidiary of Australia’s Austal and General Dynamics Corp. (GD)

“This could be a very serious setback,” said Norman Polmar, an independent naval analyst and author in Alexandria, Virginia. “If the ship develops a serious flaw, you’re not going to continue producing them.”

Permanent repair will require drydocking the ship and removing its “water jets,” a key component of the propulsion system, the Navy said in a written statement to congressional appropriations committees provided to Bloomberg News.

Aluminum-hulled ships such as Austal’s tend to rust faster than steel-hulled ships, Polmar said. “But I’m surprised it happened so early,” he said. “This ship is brand new.”

And they want to operate this for a couple of decades + with minimal manning in tropical seas ....

Sigh.

Speaking of sub-optimal. Our pal Craig Hooper needs to go to PAO school.

While not discussing LCS-2, U.S.S. Independence, specifically, Craig Hooper, Austal’s vice president for sales, marketing and external communication said that “dynamic corrosion is a common problem for any ship.

“It’s a known issue,” Hooper said, “and fixes are widely known in the maritime community.”

Craig. Dude.

Byron, call you office.

Navy officials were concerned about the potential for corrosion during construction of the ship because of “dissimilar metals,” particularly near the steel propulsion shafts, Bloomberg reported.

We were discussing this problem with the design what - well over four years ago?