In the ongoing Telenovela that is the LCS program’s wobbly progress to being close to some definition of FMC in a PMA to be named later, we are at a point where well meaning true believers and critics of the program both share the same emotional space; a slightly masked sucking of the teeth waiting for good news.

The Littoral Combat Ship USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) has arrived in a Jacksonville, Fla. BAE Systems yard, according to a Friday release from the Navy.

The ship had left Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek – Fort Story, Va. on Wednesday headed to Florida to finalize repairs to its propulsion system that suffered damage in mid-December, according to the service.
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The Navy will finalize the repairs to the combining gears ahead of shock trials that will prove the ship’s systems in a simulated combat scenario.

For the true believers, having LCS on both coasts nursing self-inflicted wounds to their exquisitely designed innards is no time to have something negative to take place with shock testing. The Navy has already spent all its good will and political capital on this system on The Hill. It just can’t survive any more bad news. Good people have done all they can to make it a success, but as Charlie Brown gives Lucy side-eye …

For the critic, they don’t really need any more references to point to that they were correct over a decade ago about the sub-optimal concept and execution of these two classes of ships. At this point, they want the best to be made of what our Sailors will be put in to harm’s way on, with a hope that in the 2030s we will be producing a better calss to replace them for today’s aspiring teenagers to command.

This generation is stuck with what the previous generation bequeathed to them. You go to war with the Navy you have, not the Navy you wish you had. Like hillbilly armor on a HUMVEE in ’04 – you do what you can with what you have.

So, here is to wishing the USS MILWAUKEE (LCS-5) the best once they get out of the yards and head to shock trials. Unleash the Beast.

May they have no need for the OPREP binder, a tow cable, and only normal use of a tug. May we learn what we need to and get on with the business of making the best of it.