USS Canberra strengthens ties with US, littorally
They’re derided as ‘Little Crappy Ships’, but a senior US Navy officer says the Littoral Combat Ship USS Canberra will play an important role in the Indo-Pacific.
They’re derided by many as “Little Crappy Ships”, but a senior US Navy officer says the Littoral Combat Ship USS Canberra will play an important role in the contested Indo-Pacific.
The US Navy vessel cruised into Sydney Harbour on Tuesday ahead of its official commissioning on Saturday.
The vessel, designed by Australian-owned Austal USA, will be the second US ship to be named in honour of the original HMAS Canberra, sunk by the Japanese in 1942.
Littoral Combat Ship Squadron One Commodore Captain Marc Crawford said the move was a tribute to the “unbreakable alliance” between the allies.
“It says very clearly, ‘We are with you’,” he said.
The USS Canberra is an Independence-class Littoral Combat Ship, one of two LCS variants designed for high-speed operations in coastal waters.
Captain Crawford said the trimaran-design vessel was suited to the task, and could also operate in blue water roles “keeping the Indo-Pacific open and free”.
But the class has been heavily criticised for being poorly armed, with senior Pentagon figures warning the ships are highly vulnerable in contested waters.
A report last year compiled by the US Government Accountability Office concluded that the LCS fleet had “not demonstrated the operational capabilities” it was designed to deliver. Half of the US Navy’s LCS fleet was also revealed to be suffering from structural cracking, potentially limiting their usefulness in heavy seas.
But Captain Crawford insisted that such issues were not all that unusual for naval warships, and the vessels’ problems had been ironed out. “That’s not a description I would agree with,” he said of the vessels’ alternative derogatory moniker.
The San Diego-based ship undertook offshore manoeuvres with its Australian sister ship, the landing helicopter dock HMAS Canberra, before entering Sydney Harbour. It also took on an Australian officer, who will continue to sail with the vessel when it returns to its home port.
Captain Crawford said a Royal Australian Navy member would always be present on the ship in recognition of its Australian links.
US Studies Centre defence policy director Peter Dean said LCS was a “controversial capability” that had suffered from a shift in strategic circumstances.
He said the ships were now considered to be undergunned, lacking the combat power needed to survive encounters with peer adversaries.
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