The following is the Dec. 8, 2016 Government Accountability Office report, Littoral Combat Ship and Frigate:Slowing Planned Frigate Acquisition Would Enable Better-Informed Decisions.
From the report:
LITTORAL COMBAT SHIP AND FRIGATE
Slowing Planned Frigate Acquisition Would Enable
Better-Informed Decisions
What GAO Found
The Navy’s vision for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program has evolved
significantly over the last 15 years, reflecting degradations of the underlying
business case. Initial plans to experiment with two different prototype ships
adapted from commercial designs were abandoned early in favor of an
acquisition approach that committed to numerous ships before proving their
capabilities. Cost, schedule, and capability expectations have eroded over time,
as shown in the table below. More recently, the Navy attributed a series of
engineering casualties on delivered LCS to shortfalls in crew training, seaframe
design, and construction quality.
