The Navy’s first littoral combat ship — USS Freedom (LCS-1) — has suffered a maintenance issue forcing it back to port during its first extended underway from Singapore, according to reports from Defense News and Aviation Week.
“After getting underway on the morning of May 21, USS Freedom returned to Changi Naval Base approximately 8 hours later after the crew detected sediment in the ship’s lube oil system,” Capt. Darryn James, a Navy spokesman told Defense News.
Freedom, “returned to port under its own power and at no time was the crew in any danger,” James said.
The ship suffered coolant leak problems in April after the ship arrived in Singapore, according to a Wednesday report from Aviation Week.
The problems appear to be related, Navy officials said.
The ship also suffered power outages related to problems with its diesel generators.
Freedom is currently on an eight-month deployment to Singapore to test concepts for deploying LCS.
Eventually, the Navy plans to deploy four ships from Singapore.
