The littoral combat ship USS Freedom (LCS-1) is the lead ship of the Freedom class LCS in the United States Navy.
The ship was built by the American company Lockheed Martin Corporation (LMT), headquartered in Bethesda (Maryland), USA, at the Marinette Marine shipyard, located in Marinette, Wisconsin.
The laying of the keel took place on June 2, 2005. Launched on September 23, 2006. Delivered to the customer on September 18, 2008. November 8, 2008 commissioned into the US Navy in Milwaukee (Wyoming).
Main characteristics: Total displacement 2862 tons. Length 115.3 meters, beam 17.5 meters, draft 3.9 meters. Speed 47 knots.
Engines: 2 Rolls-Royce MT30 36 MW gas turbine engines; 2 Colt-Pielstick diesel engines; 4 Rolls-Royce water jets. Total power 36 MW.
Cruising range 3500 miles at 18 knots. Sailing autonomy is 21 days.
Crew: 50 main crew, 40 people each, two replacement crews (“Gold” and “Blue” crew).
Swimming autonomy 21 days
Weapons:
Anti-aircraft artillery: 1x1 57mm BAE Systems Mk 110 gun, 2x1 30mm Mk44 Bushmaster II gun.
Missile weapons: in the NETFIRES UVP anti-ship module for LAM/PAM missiles, 1x21 RIM-116 air defense systems.
Anti-submarine weapons: Honeywell Mark 50.
Aviation group: 1 × SH-60 Seahawk helicopter and 3 × MQ-8 Fire Scout UAV.
On September 8, 2009, a two-month warranty repair was completed at Naval Base Norfolk. During the repair, along with the elimination of deficiencies, a number of systems and equipment were installed (including loading and unloading devices, equipment for satellite communication systems, parts of navigation equipment and components of combat systems).
On February 17, 2010, he left Naval Base Mayport and went on his first combat duty, which took place in the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Central and South America, as part of Operation SOUTHCOM.
On February 22, 2010, the first interception of a speedboat carrying drugs was carried out off the coast of Colombia. Almost a quarter ton of cocaine was seized. On board, in addition to US military personnel, was a unit of Panamanian security forces, taken for joint activities against drug smuggling during Operation SOUTHCOM.
In February 2011, due to severe weather conditions, a 0.15 meter long crack appeared on the ship's hull. It was later determined that this was due to a poor weld. The ship was under repair from June 27 to September 19, 2011.
On March 11, 2013, USS Freedom (LCS-1) became the first LCS to reach Hawaii.
In November 2013, the ship delivered humanitarian aid to the Philippines, which was damaged by Typhoon Haiyan.
From April 25 to May 16, 2014, off the coast of San Diego (Southern California), unmanned and manned helicopters took part, in which the USS Freedom (LCS-1) took part. Thus, on May 12, 2014, the MQ-8B Fire Scout UAV and the SH-60R Sea Hawk manned helicopter were launched from its deck for the first time.
In 2003, the construction of a floating city will be completed, the citizens of which may never go ashore, but will be provided with everything they need. According to forecasts, this colossal ship will usher in a new era of navigation and the era of migration from land to water.
It seems that the multi-billion-strong population of our planet is ripe for the exploration of ocean spaces.
This, without exaggeration, the eighth wonder of the world was called banally and sparingly: Freedom Ship. This is the working name, which, apparently, will be given to the ship. Although old and superstitious people recommend being more modest and naming the ship in honor of Poseidon, for example, reminding ambitious shipbuilders of the history of the unsinkable Titanic. But who will listen to people from the past if the project is entirely focused on the future?
So, facts and nothing but facts. Freedom Ship will have 25 decks, a length of more than a kilometer, and a width of approximately 300 meters. Displacement - 2.7 million tons (for comparison: the displacement of the largest supertanker on the planet - Jahre Viking - 564.739 tons). The weight of the floating city is 3 million tons.
About 70 thousand people will always be on board, of which 50 thousand “islanders” who own real estate on the ship, and 20-25 thousand personnel, including the security service and a small army.
In addition, there may be tourists on board who will stay in hotels. In total, more than one hundred thousand (100,000) people can sit on the Freedom Ship without any hesitation. This is comparable to the population of, for example, Reykjavik. Or two Gorno-Altaisks, for example.
Despite the fact that the ship has not yet been launched, its creators hastened to tell the public about the upcoming routes.
The cost of the project is $9 billion, and $22 million has already been allocated for equipping the construction area alone. To date, 20 thousand residential apartments have already been sold, the cost of each is from 80 thousand to 6 million pounds (the average price in dollars is $800 thousand). Most of the future residents are citizens of Europe (including the British Isles).
According to the advertisement of the floating city website, there are at least 50 architectural and design styles for residential premises. There will be a library, a university, computer rooms with Internet access, a college with in-depth study of engineering, medicine and all kinds of sciences, and a hospital.
Plus banks, restaurants, stadiums, casinos, courts, swimming pools, hotels, several enterprises (light and processing industries, shops and workshops), and, of course, the airport. In addition, 200 acres of “land” have been allocated for parks, gardens and forests where dog owners will walk with their pets.
Modified trolleybuses, trams and other rail vehicles will travel on board. In addition, the ship's citizens have at their disposal small planes, pleasure submarines, boats and ferries. Plus hangars and harbors for boats.
The stunning white liner should be a paradise for those wanted by the tax police.
So, the work schedule is as follows: every two years, the floating island will make cruises around the world, call at ports where local residents will board, who will be allowed to use the benefits of the “Freedom Ship” - buy goods, for example, and so on. Meanwhile, citizens not involved in trade turnover can explore the surrounding area, photograph wild monkeys and local grimy children.
During stops, which will last from one to four days, boats will depart to the shore and back every half hour - the ship itself will remain in the open sea, at a distance of 12 miles, and will almost never enter port waters.
The "floating island" will be much more environmentally friendly than any other existing vessel. To do this, the ship will use high-tech toilets (each costing $3,000) that process wastewater. The water will circulate in a circle: after consumption (for example, washing), it will be able to return to the table as drinking water.
The ship will feature recycling (recycling) of paper, glass, metal and plastic. Materials that cannot be recycled will be burned, and the combustion energy will be used to run generators. Water-based paints, natural fibers and natural wood are already used in construction. In addition, the use of plastics and petroleum-based materials is minimized. Electrostatic filters will be located throughout, destroying dust, bacteria and viruses.
The ship is being built in Honduras. According to the plan, it will be assembled on water from 600 steel fragments. It is planned to attract 15 thousand workers to the construction, who will work almost around the clock - in several shifts.
Tsar and God, the author of the idea and its developer, the head of the team is an ordinary architect and engineer Norman L. Nixon, who, in order to begin building a city in the ocean, only had to obtain a “license for the development and construction of structures intended for civilians."
All calculations are carried out by Nixon's company, located in Sarasota (Florida) - Engineering Solutions. The main supplier of materials for the construction of the “water world” is a plant recently dismantled in Japan and assembled in Saudi Arabia, which is also owned by the company.
According to Nixon, the technology that will keep this colossus afloat is already widely used on floating oil rigs. Really, what speed do these towers reach? The ship's fathers say that if 98 percent of the outer modules that make up the city fail, the ship will sink no deeper than one foot into the water.
In addition, it is “known for certain” that the ship will be able to withstand any hurricane and waves, as well as tornadoes and other maritime troubles. Not a word about the tsunami... But “Svoboda” is a “virtually fireproof” vessel, as it is equipped with an automatic sprinkler system.
According to Nixon's calculations, construction will take 40 months, including assembly at sea, plus at least a year for the arrangement and construction of the "insides" of the ship. According to the engineer, at first there was an idea to build an ordinary floating house, not intended for travel. And they even chose the “mooring place” - one of the Bahamas islands - East Caicos. We thought it would be an ordinary hotel afloat - exotic and fun.
However, now everything is much more serious. Oddly enough, size doesn't really matter in this project. Firstly, “Freedom Ship” is a duty-free territory and a free trade zone, and the raison d’être of its citizens is to engage in small-scale commerce and establish business connections around the world.
Secondly, this is an experiment to create a new type of society under new conditions. “Novelty” consists of two factors: the absence of tax collections on the ship and the inability to escape from the ship. Thirdly, this is an attempt to test the water surface as a new habitat - to identify the pros and cons of living on board. Fourthly, this is a completely anti-American project, although one can argue on this point.
The most interesting thing is, of course, point two: taxes and security. Not a single citizen of the ship will pay any income tax (and after all, they will work there, so they will have income), or real estate tax, sales tax, animal tax, or duty fees - in general, no taxes.
Now about agoraphobia (fear of open space), claustrophobia (fear of enclosed spaces) and crime. From the point of view of the passenger-residents who think that they have “broken to Freedom”, the name of the ship will sound somewhat ironic and ominous. There will be one security guard for every fifteen passengers, each apartment will be under 24-hour surveillance, there will be a prison on board, and the captain will have virtually unlimited powers, the police will be armed with firearms, and so on.
In addition, something like an intelligence unit will operate on board, and against the backdrop of the fight against terrorism, it is possible that security measures will be tightened.
Mike Bluestone, a London-based security consultant, is overseeing the creation of the security structure. According to him, everything here will be the same as in an ordinary, “ground” city - petty hooligans, thieves, divorces, quarrels and litigation between neighbors. People are people. But - in any case - the consequences of small riots in the ocean can be more unpleasant than on land.
On the other hand, completely depriving people of the opportunity to live a normal life means calling into question the very idea of Freedom. Another problem is the possibility of an attack on a ship during a cruise around the world. As we wrote above, there will be a small army on the floating island that will be able to “resist terrorists” and repel the attack of pirates.
Another point of view belongs to the more skeptical Ivan Horrocks (a security specialist from the University of Leicester - Scarman Center at the University of Leicester). He believes that the cosmopolitanism of the island’s citizens can play a cruel joke on the organizers of the eighth wonder of the world: “When you create an artificial environment in which you place people with different ethnic, cultural, political ideas and attitudes, the likelihood of creating a tense situation increases sharply. Especially if it is impossible “jump ship.” Horrocks continues to instill “horror”, saying that this will no longer be a utopia, but a dystopia.
The darkest question, which is not clearly explained anywhere, is the citizenship of the ship’s inhabitants. Nixon himself says that at first he had the idea of creating an independent water state - with its own symbols, anthem flag, currency, and so on, but he “came to the conclusion that this was not only difficult, but also unprofitable - there were too many formalities.” . This idea became even more meaningless given the fact that most of the “settlers” are Europeans, and many European countries want to be associated with the “Freedom Ship” - there are both political and economic implications here.
In general, it is not yet clear which country will patronize the ship. Nixon made a Solomonic decision: the ship would sail under at least two European flags and in no case would be subordinate to the United States. Moreover, these countries must certainly be members of the European Union. This despite the fact that Nixon's company is located in Florida. What's it like?
And now about “anti-Americanism”. Parts are made in Saudi Arabia, construction is carried out in Honduras, and the crew is entirely European. From this we can draw one far-reaching political conclusion: MacDonald will not be on board.
Nixon decided that the highest authority on the floating city was the captain, who could make his own laws. But the laws must not contradict the laws of the countries exercising control over the ship and taking the ship under their jurisdiction.
The fact that all of the above is not the madness of a single engineer is evidenced by the fact that now in Japan, in the waters of Tokyo Bay, the construction of a floating mega-airport is beginning, which, similarly, will be a kilometer long and 70 meters wide.
The designers of Freedom Ship, in turn, are so confident in the success of the project that they are seriously planning to build - having already “get their hands on it” - three more of the same “floating cities”. According to Roger Gooch, Freedom Ship's marketing director, floating ships are not just exotic housing for extreme sports enthusiasts - they are housing of the future, and very soon - in ten to twenty years, hundreds of such floating inhabited islands will roam the oceans.
Sea Structures Corporation is betting on artificial islands.
Nixon also has a competitor - Richard Morris from the Free Nation Foundation, founder of the Sea Structures corporation, which also plans to build something similar. But, you understand, in such matters there is the first and everyone else. Gagarin and everyone after him.
Paying tribute to the engineer’s ingenuity, his lack of patriotism, and also realizing that the idea was hanging in the air, we are still inclined to consider the idea with this particular “Gorno-Altaisk” an adventure. And here are the reasons. Firstly, the most obvious sign that you are being scammed is that you do not see the person who is doing it in person. Honesty is the best policy, and photographs of Nixon are, alas, impossible to find.
The second sign is excessive detail in small details, including the route map, while concealing technical data: what is the ship made of, and for what reason is it called unsinkable? The data that a 100-foot wave can move a floating city by just one inch is certainly impressive, but it also sounds like idle chatter. Or take at least thoughts about the psychological compatibility of the inhabitants. The question, of course, is not an idle one. But now conducting surveys of psychologists and sociologists on this topic is somehow, at least, frivolous.
Thirdly, we haven’t heard “news from the fields” for a long time. The announcement about 2003 was made several years ago, and now there is silence. Weren't there any sponsors? Or, God forbid, what happened to Nixon himself? In general, keep quiet. And so - a good idea.
Indeed, why don’t people start exploring the ocean? Maybe this really is an opportunity to solve the problem of overpopulation? And if it’s not Nixon, then there will be another “Prometheus”, and then another and another... The idea, in fact, is great! And promising.
The 21st century opened with an ongoing secret rivalry among major countries to build the ideal type of naval military equipment. Not the last word here belongs to designers from the North American States, working on behalf of the US Navy in the construction of ships.
Recently, in America, a new generation coastal zone ship (CLS) Independene, the lead ship of type II, created according to the LCS (coastal ships operating in shallow areas) project, was designed, assembled on factory stocks and underwent sea trials. The tests carried out identified a number of serious errors of military shipbuilders.
LCS Project
The project to create LCS (coastal ships operating in shallow areas) is currently considered the main task of the US Navy, subject to urgent implementation, requiring the immediate commissioning of more than 50 high-speed and maneuverable locally based ships, which are equipped with strike, defensive weapons and radio equipment, created with the latest technology. They are designed to conduct local combat operations in coastal waters.
The “father” of this idea and the “generator” of subsequent actions was the head of the naval operations department of the US Navy headquarters, Admiral Vernier Clark. The admiral's position is that littoral ships are needed where there is no point in using ocean-going ships for tactical or financial reasons.
Littoral zones
This implies conducting combat operations in shallow depths. However, in Russian naval literature, and in the established practice of the Russian Navy, this term is used somewhat figuratively. Littoral is an area of the sea or ocean floor that is subject to flooding at high tide and the formation of shoals at low tide. From the standpoint of Navy tactics, the “classic” is a very small zone in which to build a new class of ships to control the situation in it. Western naval strategists define the littoral zone as the area of intersection of the water element and the shore, which includes the seashore, the coastline, and the coastal slope located under water. In their concept, all these objects can reach a width from several meters to several kilometers. In Russian naval theory, this part of the water area is designated as the “coastal sea zone” (from the English “litoral” - coastal).
Therefore, from our position, US Navy ships of the Independene and Freedom type must be considered from the standpoint of the tactics of action of ships in the near sea zone.
Concept of operations of ships in the near sea zone
As American military strategists think, the concept of using ships in the near sea zone is quite simple and is located in only two main directories.
The first is to use it for its intended purpose. This is used against surface small and medium ships, small submarines, coastal artillery, mobile and stationary mine systems. Thus, to carry out these combat missions, the creation of a DD(X) class warship is required, which, if necessary, could operate in the second directory, up to being used as a landing ship for special forces units or serve as a base ship for launching cruise missiles.. So wide The range of capabilities of a littoral ship suggests its rapid transformation into the type of vessel that will be necessary to complete the assigned combat mission.
A feature of the creation of such ships was the principle of modular assembly with an introduced version of the so-called. “open type architecture”, which makes it possible to use the latest construction technologies along with modern building materials.
Tender for the creation of littoral ships
Six companies showed interest in this project; as a result of the selection carried out by the US Navy commission, three contenders remained: Dynamics, Lockheed, Raytheon - well-known companies in the USA. Each concern received a contract, Dynamics for $9 million, and the rest of the military industry for $10 million. A year later, sketches of littoral ships were presented to the commission for consideration.
The Dynamics project involved the development of a trimaran-type warship. The advantages of this type of ship, along with high seaworthiness, were high speed (over 50 knots) and the operation of the ship with a small crew of about 25 people. According to the creators, it is intended to solve problems of:
- countering sea pirates and terrorists
- counteraction to coast guard boats, even when attacking in a deployed manner
- organizing search activities and destroying enemy submarines located in the coastal zone
- conducting mine action
- providing assistance to other ships
The Lockheed project involved the development and use in the construction of a ship’s hull under the name “sea blade”; it was a variant of combining the classic shapes of a ship with a version of the “glider” type. This form of construction was used by semi-sports fast ships that set speed records in transatlantic crossings. To achieve success in accepting the order by military sailors, Lockheed designers fulfilled all the customer’s requirements, especially the conditions for interchangeability and versatility, while installing modular equipment on their model.
And the last one, the Raytheon project, proposed a solution to the problem of creating a littoral ship based on the small missile boat Skjold (Norway). Here, the Raytheon concern was responsible for the creation, implementation and interaction of the ship's systems, and the ship's hull construction project was carried out by another specialized engineering group. This project was distinguished by the fact that the boat was created on an air cushion, so it was not suitable for the US Navy.
Use of other types of ships
While the military department and legislators were busy with paperwork in preparation for the launch of the littoral ship program, naval leadership was testing various options for using modular systems on unconventional types of ships.
One of the options for experimental use was a ship with a small waterline area called “Sea Fighter”, which confidently operates in various extreme situations. One of the main requirements for developers when using the base of this ship was to be a modular system for equipping the vessel, and such a ship should serve as a base for receiving/landing helicopters, as well as small ones, incl. and “automated drones”. The ship was launched in early June 2003 for sea trials. At the end of the month, having shown its best side, the ship was commissioned into the US Navy.
Tactical characteristics of "Sea Fighter"
Displacement -950 tons.
Length – 80 m.
Width – 22 m
Draft – 3.5 m
Sea crossing range -4400 miles
Crew -26 people.
The power unit is combined, the gas power plant includes 2 MTU 595 diesel engines and 2 LM 2500 gas turbine engines
The rest of the Sea Fighter equipment
2 rotary “water jets” are used as ship propulsion, one is located in each catamaran hull. When all the ship's components operate synchronously, the ship's speed reaches 50 knots.
The ship is equipped with 2 decks for landing helicopters; at the stern there is a receiving and releasing device for various types of underwater and surface automated and other vehicles that solve a wide range of tasks, from reconnaissance and sabotage to mine action.
Purpose and testing of the ship
The Sea Fighter, a ship with a small waterline area, is designed to solve two main problems. This is a study of the real internal resources of such a system of ships and the launch of a system for modular construction of sea vessels, including the acquisition of weapons. It was planned to use the so-called container option for completing vessel superstructures based on the principle of a block diagram of electronic devices. Moreover, each container represents an electronic complex of various types of counteraction to the enemy.
Initial tests of the Sea Fighter immediately yielded positive results. The results of the experiments were taken into account in the development program for LCS of both types. Recently, the leadership of the US Navy has been actively exploring the issue of the participation of ships of the Sea Fighter type in planned operations of both the US Navy and the use of these ships in areas of American economic interests and in resolving issues related to internal US problems in the waters. When it is operationally expedient to quickly move troops, such ships are used to move forces into areas of US national interests.
Test results
In February 2004, the oversight body of the US Congress generally approved the project presented by the US Navy on the feasibility of acquiring coastal ships for the needs of the American fleet. In May of the same year, the US Navy Department announced the results of the tender, according to which the Dynamics and Lockheed concerns received contracts worth about 80 million and 47 million dollars, respectively. Dynamics will build the ships, code-designated LCS 2 and LCS4, and Lockheed will build the ships, code-designated LCS 1 and LCS3. The total cost of contracts for the construction of all ships will be 540 and 425 million dollars, respectively. In general, the Americans are ready to spend more than 4 billion dollars on the construction of all ships of this type.
In early June 2005, construction began on the lead littoral ship of the LCS 1 Freedom type, built in 2006. In November 2008, it was commissioned into the US Navy.
In January 2006, Dynamics began construction at the shipyard of the trimaran Inderpendence, in April 2008 its construction was completed and in January 2010 the naval ensign of the US Navy was raised on it.
After this, the program for building coastal ships was curtailed. Initially, the reasons for the increase in contract prices were given; the programs were subsequently closed due to lack of funding by the US Congress.
The laboriously built littoral ships LCS3 and LCS4 by the Dynamics and Lockheed concerns showed unsatisfactory results during dynamic tests, and many defects and malfunctions were identified.
The US Navy has just begun to test and evaluate the new Freedom-class LCS (Littoral Combat Ship), but the marketing campaign has actually already begun. 15 warships from nine countries took part in the 9th international naval exhibition IMDEX ASIA - International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference, which was held in Singapore from May 14 to 16.
The ships on display, based at Changi Naval Base, included patrol ships, frigates, corvettes and destroyers from Australia, France, India, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. For the first time at an international salon, the leading American BKPZ Freedom, created by Lockheed Martin based on the LCS-1 concept, was demonstrated.
Construction program
Considering that in November 2012, at the Euronaval 2012 naval show, the Lockheed Martin company for the first time demonstrated a model of the multi-purpose LCS type BKPZ for foreign customers, then the first demonstration of its new ship Freedom at the show in Singapore can be considered the beginning marketing campaign to promote the concept
The LCS is a new generation of US Navy surface combatants that can operate on the high seas, but is adapted to perform a wide range of littoral combat missions. Among the main functions of the LCS are patrolling, protecting the fleet from attacks by small surface vessels, combating low-noise submarines, mine warfare, reconnaissance, and supporting the actions of special operations forces.
Due to the fact that the ships are designed using a modular concept, each of them can be repurposed to perform any of these missions in a short time. The construction of LCS ships is carried out by two main contractors under two alternative designs. The LCS-1 series is created for the US Navy by Lockheed Martin, the LCS-2 by Ostall USA.
The lead ship of the LCS-1 series, Freedom, was not only demonstrated in Singapore to the countries of the Asia-Pacific region, but will remain there for eight months, operating in the area of responsibility of the US Navy's 7th Fleet. According to the US Navy, the ship is scheduled to participate not only in the IMDEX Asia salon, but also in the CARAT (Cooperation Afloat and Readiness and Training) exercises in Southeast Asia together with regional armed forces, as well as in the SEACAT (Southeast Asia) exercises Cooperation and Training).
On board is currently a reinforced crew of 91 people, including 19 specialists to perform anti-surface combat missions, as well as an aviation unit from the 73rd attack helicopter squadron HSM-73 (Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73). However, the basic crew consists of 40 people, to which are added the crews of combat modules and the composition of the air wing. In total, only 75 people can be based on the ship, which is due to increased automation of on-board systems and the need to reduce operating costs.
LCS-1 Freedom was developed by Lockheed Martin and belongs to the class of frigates. It is a single-hull semi-planing ship with a steel hull and an aluminum superstructure. Structural protection is local in nature; the superstructure and weapon elements are made using stealth technology. The crew is protected from weapons of mass destruction.
LCS-1 was laid down at the Marinette Marine shipyard in 2004, launched at the end of September 2006, put into trial operation in 2008, and has been in service with the US Navy since 2011. The second ship LCS-3 was laid down in 2009 and delivered in 2012. The third LCS-5 was laid down in 2011, LCS-7 is also being built, contracts have been issued for the construction of LCS-9 and LCS-11.
The cost of the first frigates of the LCS-1 type exceeds 500 million dollars, but by decision of the US Congress the price of subsequent ships is limited to 460 million. It was supposed to build 60 frigates of the selected LCS variant (LCS-1 or LCS-2) by 2030 for $12 billion, but the crisis and rising costs led to a reduction in the program to 52 ships.
Main characteristics
Length - 115.3, width - 17.5, draft -3.9 meters, total displacement of about 3089 tons. The ship is equipped with a combined four-shaft diesel-gas turbine power plant with a total power of 113 thousand hp. with four water-jet propulsion, which allows the LCS-1 to reach speeds of up to 45 knots and make transitions to a range of 3,500 nautical miles at a speed of 18 knots.
The ship can carry two MH-60B/F anti-submarine helicopters or one MH-60B/F helicopter and two or three deck-based helicopter-type unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
Included in the LCS-1 armament includes a 57-mm Mk.110 gun, a self-defense system against anti-ship missiles SeaRAM with RIM-116 missiles, created on the basis of a 20-mm six-barreled anti-aircraft artillery system Mk-15 Mod.31 "Phalanx", unmanned vehicles in the anti-submarine version, robotic boats for search and destruction of mines, as well as protection from small high-speed vessels. The ships will be able to receive and transmit tactical information within the network structure to other US Navy ships, aircraft and submarines.
It can be considered as an innovative technology to place in the stern end of promising ships of the LCS type a special lift-slip or a small docking chamber for launching and receiving the ship's watercraft while underway and in sufficiently developed waves. The LCS project implements another very effective technology related to modularity. This technology was developed in the mid-70s by the German company Blohm und Voss AG. She was named MEKO (Mehrzweek Kombinationschiff - multi-purpose combined ship).
This technology involves the design of various versions of the platform ship (1000–4000 tons) and the manufacture of all weapon systems, the main power plant and other systems in the form of standard functional modules (FM); installation of these FMs in prepared cells; ease of replacing modules with obsolete weapons with new FMs. Having developed a certain number of types of FM, it is possible not to manufacture them in advance, but to store only technical documentation, which ensures the rapid design of various ship options in accordance with customer requirements.
Later, this technology was developed during the creation of ships of the LCS program. A significant difference between this technology and the previous one is that FMs for various purposes can be installed at the base point, which allows you to quickly change the functional purpose of the ship. Sets of combat equipment and the corresponding personnel are combined into combat modules (CM). The first combat vehicles were developed to solve the problems of anti-mine, anti-ship, anti-landing and anti-submarine defense.
/Nikolay Novichkov, editor-in-chief of ARMS-TASS Agency, vpk-news.ru/
Construction of the floating city began in 2002.The Freedom Ship has everything you need for life and recreation. After the grandiose project saw the light of day, some began to seriously argue that with the construction of a floating ship-city, a gradual resettlement from land to water could begin.
The idea of a floating ship came to the mind of engineer Norman Nixon, who himself obtained a license to build a “steel structure intended for civilian use.” Nixon's Florida-based company, Engineering Solutions, is managing the calculations. The same company owns the plant that makes all the parts of the “Freedom Ship”. Previously, the company was located in one of the cities of Japan, but now it has been relocated to Saudi Arabia.
At first, Nixon planned to build just a floating recreation center, but the project later grew into a metropolis.
According to the company's estimates, the entire construction should take 40 months, and the interior finishing will take another 12 months. Thus, the floating city should enter the ocean as early as 2006.
A ship is being built in Honduras. More than 15,000 workers are involved in the construction, working in shifts, so work goes on around the clock.
According to the plan, the Freedom Ship should be very large: more than a kilometer long, approximately 300 meters wide. It is planned to place at least 25 decks here. The weight of the floating city is 3 million tons. The record displacement of the future giant is 2.7 million tons.
According to the calculations of the creators, at least 100,000 people will “live” in the city on the water, of which 20,000 are service personnel and a small army that will have to maintain order on the ship.
It is planned that 80% of the residents will have their own “apartments”, and the remaining 20% will rent rooms in hotels on the ship. The entire ship will represent a city, similar to a settlement on land.
Despite the fact that the ship has not yet completed a single route, the advertising campaign is in full swing - the creators accurately describe the upcoming journey and sell apartments. The owners promise that all living spaces will be completely different - each buyer can choose an apartment to suit their taste.
Although the ship is positioned as a city in which anyone can live, the pleasure is not cheap. The simplest apartment on Freedom Ship costs approximately $800,000. Although the construction of a giant floating city is an expensive undertaking. More than $9 billion was allocated for the project, of which $22 million was spent on the construction of the construction site alone. But investors who have invested so much money in the project are confident that all these costs will pay off in full. There is no doubt about it: the city ship has not yet been launched, but 20,000 residential premises on the “Liberty Ship” have already been sold (most of the buyers are residents of the British Isles).
There is an opinion that interest in living space will increase 10 times after the ship sails. The owners think that the demand for apartments on the ship will even exceed supply. They are even going to hold auctions, so that buyers will still bargain for a place on the ship.
If you wish, you can live on the Freedom Ship without returning to land. There will be libraries, shops, cinemas, computer rooms with Internet access, colleges, universities and hospitals where qualified specialists will work. The decks will house banks, restaurants, casinos, swimming pools and stadiums. The company promises that the most famous people in the world will be invited to give concerts. In general, you won't be bored.
The floating city will not only have its own army, but even factories and workshops. 200 acres of “land” are given over to parks, gardens and woodlands. Dog breeders will walk with their pets, which they can take with them to the new “city,” in specially designated areas.
If suddenly, for some reason, someone urgently needs to go ashore, there is no need to wait for the nearest stop: a small airport will be equipped on the ship.
Small trams will travel along the decks. In addition, the ship's residents will have boats and submarines at their disposal.
In addition to the “locals”, there will also be tourists on the ship. They will be accommodated in hotels, and special excursions on the decks will be held for them.
The ship must make at least two cruises throughout the year. Throughout the journey, the ship will stop many times near cities on land, where residents of the floating city can reach by boat. Each stay will last up to 4 days.
At first, the project aroused distrust among environmentalists. However, the creators promise that the floating city will be environmentally friendly: natural fibers are used in construction. On the ship itself, waste-free production will be practiced: paper, glass, metal and plastic will be recycled, and materials that cannot be recycled will be burned. The combustion energy will be used to operate the generators, and the water will circulate in a circle. Electrostatic filters will be located throughout, destroying dust, bacteria and viruses.
It goes without saying that the giant ship project also has opponents. In particular, many believe that the “Freedom Ship” can repeat the fate of the “Titanic,” which at one time was also advertised as an unsinkable city on the water. The fact is that the Freedom Ship is based on the technology used on floating oil rigs. It is considered reliable, but these towers do not float at high speed, but are located in one place. True, the ship's designers say that everything was precisely calculated. Even if the supporting elements fail, the vessel will not sink deeper than one foot into the water. The repair work will be carried out immediately, so there is nothing to worry about. The owners even note that the “Freedom Ship” will be almost the most reliable place on our land. After all, he is not at all afraid of fires - powerful sprayers are placed throughout the entire area, and his staff includes its own firefighters. In addition, the ship is equipped with a stabilization system, which allows you to not worry at all about strong ocean waves and hurricanes.
Some opponents of the “Freedom Ship” project say that once this floating city is torn off from land, absolute anarchy could be established here. The company has the opposite opinion on this: there will be one guard for every fifteen passengers, all apartments will be monitored around the clock, and there will be a private prison on board. Mike Bluestone, a security consultant from London, argues that it will be even harder for criminals on a ship than on land, since in a floating city there is no chance of hiding - everything is in plain sight.
The floating city project has many defenders. Firstly, theoretically this is beneficial, since the ship will sail almost all over the globe, here anyone can easily engage in commerce. Living in a city-ship, you do not need to pay any taxes (but people on the ship can work, that is, have income), which becomes very attractive for many businessmen. Secondly, the best conditions are created on the ship. The owners even say that perhaps some people will live on the ship for more than one year. Consequently, the “Freedom Ship” can be considered an attempt to test the surface of the water as a new habitat.
Nixon has repeated more than once that if the city-ship is popular, then it can subsequently be transformed into a floating state, with its own symbols, flag, anthem, currency, where it will be possible to elect its own president and create its own constitution.
There are still disputes over which country the “Freedom Ship” will be subordinate to. The owners of the company note that it will definitely not be the United States; most likely, the ship will sail under the flags of two European countries, which ones are still being decided.
The owners of Freedom Ship themselves have no doubt about success. Despite the fact that the first city ship has not yet been launched, there is already talk that by 2010 5 more similar floating cities will be built.
P.S. December 4, 2013.
Freedom Ship International has announced the resumption of its project to build a “floating city”. We are talking about the largest ship in the world, on which up to 50 thousand people can live. Work will begin after the authors of the idea manage to find at least $1 billion.