MARINETTE, Wis. (NNS) -- The future USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) successfully completed acceptance trials May 4, testing the ship's major systems and equipment in port and underway in Lake Michigan.
Acceptance trials are the last significant milestone before delivery of the ship to the Navy. The ship was presented to the Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) with high levels of completion.
"Fort Worth performed extremely well during its trials," said LCS Program Manager Capt. John Neagley. "The ship's level of completion coupled with Marinette Marine's excellent craftsmanship resulted in relatively few material deficiencies."
During the four-day trial, the Navy conducted comprehensive tests intended to demonstrate the performance of the propulsion plant, ship handling and auxiliary systems. This improved performance in comparison to the first ship of the class is a result of design stability, facility improvements and production efficiencies by the shipbuilder.
Fort Worth will join her sister ships USS Freedom and USS Independence, which have already been commissioned, when she is commissioned September 22, in Galveston, Texas. In addition, Milwaukee (LCS 5) is under construction at the Marinette Marine Corp. shipyard, and Coronado (LCS 4) and Jackson (LCS 6) are under construction at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, Ala.
LCS is a new breed of U.S. Navy warship, capable of open-ocean operation but optimized for littoral, or coastal, missions.
The Navy continues to remain committed to a 55 ship LCS program and is leveraging competition, fixed-price contracting and serial production to reduce construction duration and costs. In addition, the Navy is committed to ensuring that prior to the start of fabrication, the ship design is mature and the requirements are well understood.