Classic colors for USS Freedom

[Battleship_Unknown2]

I don't know about anyone else, but it is flat out awesome to see a 21st century warship painted in a scheme that just screams WWII.

[International_Barfighter]

Unfortunately, that is one UGLY girl.

[Battleship_Unknown2]

International_Barfighter, on 12 March 2013 - 04:51 PM, said:

Unfortunately, that is one UGLY girl.

She's got nothing on the other LCS when it comes to ugly. Also, in a world soon to be populated by these, I think Freedom's lines are actually quite superb.

[xS_DEADLY_Sx]

I sort of like the LCS-2. I'm not sure why, but it looks nice. But the Zumwalt looks kind of stupid...

[Battleship_Unknown2]

xS_DEADLY_Sx, on 12 March 2013 - 04:56 PM, said:

I sort of like the LCS-2. I'm not sure why, but it looks nice. But the Zumwalt looks kind of stupid...

Unfortunately, it was a waste of money. This website has some excellent pictures of her ugliness, but it also produced this insightful quote which, while poor in a grammatical sense, basically outlines the flaws of the Independence.

Quote

this ship is a monstrosity of naval failure. it is barely armed, drastically less than a 3000 ton ship should be, only able to defend it self for a short time in a very low threat environment, has barely anything resembling the capabilities its price tag implies. it carries only sort range RAM missiles, and a single medium gun.that’s it. an M1 tank has more offensive fire power than this thing thats supposed to be a surface warfare vessel. no torpedoes. no msm 2 sm 3 harpoon or essm missiles. noe phased array or asea radar. barely enough fuel for three days, too few crew to handle any damage. they had a party because they managed to save weight by changing the doors on the module package boxes, but still dont have any modules to put in them. for this were paying half a billiion each. we could have simply re fitted the hulls of perry frigates with 24 mk 41 vls and stuck the frigate aegis on it and had a drastically more capable vessel for 1/5 the price. no one will be running from this thing its utterly incapable of doing anything other than ramming.

[triptyx]

She looks alright.  What's old is new again.  :)

[Elysion]

Cant they glue some more guns on it or something?

PrincessRoyal, on 12 March 2013 - 05:01 PM, said:

Unfortunately, it was a waste of money. This website has some excellent pictures of her ugliness, but it also produced this insightful quote which, while poor in a grammatical sense, basically outlines the flaws of the Independence.

Cant they glue some more guns on it or something?

[turmacil]

Other aesthetics aside, the paint job is quite nice. (And it does look better than some of the other designs out there.)

[Super_Dreadnought]

LCS1 doesn't look bad at all, compared to that stupid trimaran and zumwalt thing.

[Snakehead1234]

I was at the USS Freedom commissioning ceremony in Milwaukee and got to walk on deck. It was one of my most memorable experiences being on a ship the first of its kind being commissioned.

[xS_DEADLY_Sx]

PrincessRoyal, on 12 March 2013 - 05:01 PM, said:

Unfortunately, it was a waste of money. This website has some excellent pictures of her ugliness, but it also produced this insightful quote which, while poor in a grammatical sense, basically outlines the flaws of the Independence.

The top down views are a bit ugly, but other than that I still like it. And I'm a little surprised by the lack of firepower

[Elysion]

Well arent these things meant to combat speed boats with angry people shooting rifles at you on them?

[jubbly]

Deadnought, on 12 March 2013 - 07:28 PM, said:

LCS1 doesn't look bad at all, compared to that stupid trimaran and zumwalt thing.

Of the three I would say the LCS2 looks the best.  That Zumwalt thing is quite the ugly duckling.

[Battleship_Unknown2]

Elysion, on 12 March 2013 - 08:39 PM, said:

Well arent these things meant to combat speed boats with angry people shooting rifles at you on them?

Yeah, it was pretty amazing that we spent the time to design an entire class of ships to fight pirates... the threat of which have basically been eliminated by mercenaries hired to protect tankers in the region. If you read between the lines, I think that's why Freedom is heading to southeast Asia -- because we don't what else to do with the thing. But hey, let's build 9 more of the 'em, and 9 more of the awful Independence boats, too! Your taxdollars hard at work.

They could have built a few new BBs with that dough. Those coulda fought pirates too, yah know. :sad:

[xS_DEADLY_Sx]

PrincessRoyal, on 12 March 2013 - 10:13 PM, said:

Yeah, it was pretty amazing that we spent the time to design an entire class of ships to fight pirates... the threat of which have basically been eliminated by mercenaries hired to protect tankers in the region. If you read between the lines, I think that's why Freedom is heading to southeast Asia -- because we don't what else to do with the thing. But hey, let's build 9 more of the 'em, and 9 more of the awful Independence boats, too! Your taxdollars hard at work.

They could have built a few new BBs with that dough. Those coulda fought pirates too, yah know. :sad:

BBs are a little outdated of a concept now. We now fight with more accurate, longer range weapons. It's no longer about the biggest gun

[Tanz]

I dont think the camo the USS Freedom has on looks that bad  :Smile_unsure:

[Eyeless_Camper]

I still think our Swedish Visby is alot better looking stealth ship   :Smile-_tongue:

 

[MM2ss]

I miss the old days, when warships looked dangerous (to the enemy, not their own crews)...

[xS_DEADLY_Sx]

First of all, your boat is wearing a dunce cap, and secondly, it doesn't seem very stealth. I can see it right there  :Smile_trollface:

[MM2ss]

Here is my stealth ship.

 

[brian333]

PrincessRoyal, on 12 March 2013 - 10:13 PM, said:

Yeah, it was pretty amazing that we spent the time to design an entire class of ships to fight pirates... the threat of which have basically been eliminated by mercenaries hired to protect tankers in the region. If you read between the lines, I think that's why Freedom is heading to southeast Asia -- because we don't what else to do with the thing. But hey, let's build 9 more of the 'em, and 9 more of the awful Independence boats, too! Your taxdollars hard at work.

They could have built a few new BBs with that dough. Those coulda fought pirates too, yah know. :sad:

The cost of these ships is not inherent in their design. It is a by-product of an industry which survives on cost overruns and construction planning conceived with the intent of stretching contracts to the very limit of Congressional tolerance. Any attempt to construct a BB ship of any kind will result in such massive expenses that the projects will never see completion, but consume decades of militay budget.

Until the military divorces itself from it's procurement process which treats it's few contractors as pampered princes and allows the paupers in the field to actually compete for business, even contemplating the construction of a BB is not realistic.

And the Gotelands are a lot closer to what we should be building anyway. Many smaller hard hitting ships is better than a few expensive to maintain and expensive to replace ships.

[MM2ss]

Give me three hours with dictatorial powers and I can fix the cost overrun [edited].  Just imagine a world where if the contractor does not fulfill the agreement on time and on budget where the contractor is fined twice the amount of any claimed overruns and $500,000 per day of time over estimated delivery.  To add some teeth to it, we'll include a clause that requires the contractor to waive the right to file for bankruptcy in the contracts for the bids.

 

Either that, or we can do like the old days, let the military make their own stuff.  When we made our own rifles for the service, we got what the soldiers needed at bargain prices.  Now we buy plastic guns at several times the prices that lack the same level of capability...

[Battleship_Unknown2]

MM2ss, on 13 March 2013 - 12:23 AM, said:

Give me three hours with dictatorial powers and I can fix the cost overrun [edited].  Just imagine a world where if the contractor does not fulfill the agreement on time and on budget where the contractor is fined twice the amount of any claimed overruns and $500,000 per day of time over estimated delivery.  To add some teeth to it, we'll include a clause that requires the contractor to waive the right to file for bankruptcy in the contracts for the bids.

Either that, or we can do like the old days, let the military make their own stuff.  When we made our own rifles for the service, we got what the soldiers needed at bargain prices.  Now we buy plastic guns at several times the prices that lack the same level of capability...

Dude, if you're going to be a dictator, do it right. If there's a cost overrun, shoot him. If there's a defect, shoot his family. Now you're cooking with dictatorship!

[MM2ss]

I feel that no bullet deserves to be mistreated in such a manner.

[Super_Dreadnought]

PrincessRoyal, on 13 March 2013 - 12:58 AM, said:

Dude, if you're going to be a dictator, do it right. If there's a cost overrun, shoot him. If there's a defect, shoot his family. Now you're cooking with dictatorship!

Imho, way too simple. Too easy a way out.

What I believe you want to to do as a all powerful dictator is to make the victim SUFFER!. You want maximum pain whilst keeping them alive as long as possible. I recommend a dose of mutilation, water boarding, thumbscrew, tooth extraction, castration, and chinese iron maiden! Vlad the impaler didn't earn his notoriety just by instantly killing people.