MARINETTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Ray Mabus, the Secretary of the U.S. Navy spent Monday touring the Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship production line at Fincantieri Marinette Marine.
This was his first visit to the shipyard since 2009.
His visit comes after concerns over the LCS program, in which four ships suffered mechanical issues earlier this year.
Mabus spoke to WLUK.
“Navy ships break, they have issues, that’s why we have shipyards, that’s why we repair them so often”
Despite those issues, Mabus says the Navy wants 52 LCS, saying they fill a gap and meet the capability needs of the Navy.
“They’ve got a huge flight deck, they’ve got a huge hanger deck, they can get in closer, and they can operate with carrier strikers”
He added, every day changes are being made to the ships, as well as how the Navy uses them. One of those changes includes designating the first four LCS as testing vessels, which will better prepare sailors for combat.
“Unlike aircrafts and ground vehicles, you can’t build one of these and blow it up and test it and see how to use it. You have to take it out and you’ve got to deploy it, and you’ve got to let sailors test it” Currently, the Navy has contracts to build 26 LCS between two shipyards. 13 ships are being built at Marinette Marine.
Out of those 13 ships, four ships have been delivered to the Navy, three are in the water, and six other ships are in production.
