By CHRISTOPHER P. CAVAS
WASHINGTON — The littoral combat ship (LCS) Freedom remained in port at Singapore Friday to deal with yet another engineering problem — the latest in a string of relatively minor issues that have affected the ship over the course of a planned 10-month deployment.
The ship was sidelined earlier in the week by a seawater service piping rupture that affected both gas turbine engines. Repairs have been completed and both engines are back online, and on Thursday, the ship was preparing to get underway. That’s when, according to the Navy, the crew found seawater contamination in the starboard steerable waterjet hydraulic system.
“While Freedom could get underway and navigate safely with the port drive train, the commanding officer decided to remain in port to fix the starboard steerable waterjet hydraulic system,” said Lt. Cmdr. Clay Doss, spokesman for the Navy’s Logistics Group Western Pacific in Singapore. “Like the previous issue this week, there are no plans — and no need — to get underway until repairs are accomplished.”
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