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THE SHIP
ABOUT

The new USS Little Rock is one of the Navy’s newest warships. It was built in Marinette, Wisconsin and is a Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) that will operate in waters close to the shore. The vessel also has a helicopter pad, a ramp for small boats and can be used by small assault forces.

The original USS Little Rock began its service as a light cruiser when World War II was coming to an end in 1945. It was officially decommissioned in 1949 and recommissioned in 1960 as a guided missile cruiser, before being taken out of service in 1976 and brought to Buffalo.

The name of the original USS Little Rock and the new vessel both pay tribute to Arkansas’ state capital. In her role, the USS Little Rock will play an important role in the new fleet of warships that will carry out our nation’s future maritime strategy.

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CROSS SECTION
CHARACTERISTICS
Class and Type: Freedom-Class Littoral Combat Ship
Displacement: ≈3,400 tons (full load)
Dimensions: Length: 389 feet
Beam: 57.5 feet
Draft: 13.5 feet
Main Machinery: Combined Diesel & Gas Turbine (113,710hp):
2 Rolls Royce MT-30 Gas Turbines (96,550 hp)
2 Fairbanks Morse Colt-Pielstick Diesels (17,160hp)
4 Rolls Royce Kamewa 153SII Waterjets
Speed: 45+ knots
Range: 3,000 nautical miles @ 14 knots
Crew: 98 Sailors
Watercraft Launch & Recovery: Sea State 4
Aircraft Launch & Recovery: Sea State 5
Flight Deck >1.5x size of other US Navy surface combatants
Weapons: MK 31 Rolling Airframe Missile System
BAE MK 110 57mm gun
Modular weapons systems tailored by mission
Multiple crew-served & small caliber guns
Countermeasures: LM ALEX Decoy Launching System
WBR-2000 Electronic Surveillance System
Combat Data System: COMBATSS-21
RADAR: Airbus TRS-3D SPS-75 Air & Surface Search
Bridgemaster E S & X Band Navigation
Fire Control: BAE Gun Fire Control System
Mission Package: 3 types – anti surface, anti-mine, and anti-submarine
180 tons of reconfigurable space and weight for vehicles and equipment
One MH-60 Romeo or Sierra Seahawk helicopters or
One MH-60 Seahawk & three Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff & Landing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Numerous waterborne vehicles over 36 feet long and 10 tons
FROM THE GROUND UP
  • Over 100 miles of electrical and fiber optic cable.
  • 1,000 tons of aluminum, 2,000 tons of steel.
  • 4 waterjets, that together pump over 1,976,000 gallons of water per minute (the equivalent of draining an Olympic size swimming pool in 20 seconds) at full power
  • Two Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbine engines producing a total of 96,000 horsepower.  A direct derivation of the Trent 800 engines that power a Boeing 777; provide more horsepower than:
    • 223 Chevrolet Corvettes
    • 457 Ford Mustangs
    • 580 Harley Davidson VRXSE Destroyer V-Rod Destroyer Drag Racing Motorcycles
  • Two 16-cylinder Fairbanks Morse propulsion diesel engines, each displacing 5,200 liters (317,952 cubic inches) for a combined 17,370 horsepower.  Derived from railroad locomotives, these engines together produce more power than 35 semi-trucks
  • LCS FREEDOM variant power-to-weight ratio: 38 horsepower per ton.  Compares to:
    • DDG 51 Class Destroyer: 11 horsepower per ton
    • CVN 68 Class Aircraft Carrier: approximately 3 horsepower per ton.
  • Unique maneuverability to:
    • accelerate from 0 to 40+ knots in under 2 minutes
    • decelerate from 40+ to 0 knots in about 3 ship lengths
    • move directly sideways at 1 knot
    • rotate 360° while standing still in 3 minutes
BY THE NUMBERS
1,976,000
Number of gallons per minute that go through the ship’s 4 waterjets can fill an Olympic sized swimming pool in 20 seconds
113,710
Horsepower of the Combined Diesel & Gas Turbine engine propulsion plant
3,400
Full Load displacement
2,000
Tons of steel in USS LITTLE ROCK
1,000
Total number of tracks the new radar can handle simultaneously
1,000
Tons of aluminum in USS LITTLE ROCK
360
Average cost in millions for 10 ships under the block buy contract
150
Percent increase in number of ports LCS shallow draft enables
100
Miles of electrical and fiber optic cable in USS LITTLE ROCK
98
Total crew berthing – less than half the number for the Frigate it replaces
96
Maximum number of hours to swap out a warfighting mission package... most swaps conducted in less than 24 hours
45
USS LITTLE ROCK’s top speed in knots...fastest surface combatant in the fleet
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