The littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) got underway from Singapore Feb. 2 after completing her first six-day scheduled preventive maintenance period during a maiden 16-month rotational deployment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
Begun Jan. 19, days after Fort Worth returned from supporting AirAsia search efforts in the Java Sea, the maintenance period included more than 400 checks of engineering, deck and combat systems. Compared to other Navy ship platforms, the littoral combat ship has a relatively small crew. Labor and technical support during Fort Worth’s deployment is supplemented with civilian contractors who conduct most of the preventative maintenance schedule (PMS) work.
Throughout the course of its deployment, Fort Worth will increase LCS operations in the region by visiting more ports, engaging more regional navies during exercises like Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training and expanding LCS capabilities with tools like the Fire Scout.
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Image: US Navy