LCS 1 has flooding incident

Littoral Combat Ship USS Freedom (LCS 1), first in class of two LCS variants, suffered about three feet of flooding in its bilge from discharge piping from the No. 1 gas turbine motor lube oil cooler on Oct. 20. The Wisconsin-built steel monohull ship is currently pierside in Singapore. The flooding is likely to only cause minimal operational impact. LCS 1 is expected to return to its San Diego homeport by late December. (Source: Defense News, 10/21/13) Gulf Coast note: The Independence-class LCS variants are built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala.