Fourth LCS breaks down

It has been a bad year for the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship program. USS Coronado (LCS-4) has reportedly suffered diesel engine propulsion woes about 800 nautical miles west of Hawaii and has turned back toward Pearl Harbor from its western Pacific deployment. The problem with the Independence variant follows a series of issues with the Freedom class of LCS. Coronado left Pearl Harbor on Aug. 25 where it was to operate for at least 16 months, and based out of Singapore. The extent of repairs or operational impact is unknown. An assessment is to be completed and "additional details will be made available when possible," according to a U.S. Third Fleet statement. Coronado is the fourth LCS to suffer a major incident since December. The other three ships with problems were Freedom variants. The problems with the ships have been a combination of design and engineering issues and personnel errors. (Source: Defense News, 08/30/16) Gulf Coast note: Coronado was built by Austal-USA in Mobile, Ala.