The thing is, monitors tend to be slow, short-ranged ships with terrible sea-handling problems. Plus, as AntEater pointed out, they're good for shore bombardment--that's it. For ASW or ASuW, they're not very suitable.

Hell, just read the article on the HMS Furious. A battleship's guns on a light cruiser, a monitor is smaller than a DD and use 18 inchers. Clearly, they can't control coastal areas, a speedboat could probably destroy one.

The three "large light cruisers" (Courageous, Glorious, Furious) were probably the WW1 counterpart to the littorial combat ship in terms of failure
:D

They were good carriers, though.

Counter-part? More like predecessor... Battlecruisers themselves weren't a bad idea. Putting them against battleships was. To add 15 inch guns to a light cruiser is just silly. Likewise, making what is basically an oversized PT boat is just as silly. In terms of sillyness, both are the absolute worst.

I just used the word silly three times in an argument.

Discretion: Poster may be high

Than again, I post the question can the USN make a solid design, that they wont change, under 4500 ton displacement, have a 155mm artillery gun (like that on the Crusader or FCS-NLOS), SeaRAM/VLS, CIWS, Mounted Sonar systems, a boat launch ramp and docking stations for ships that are about 100-300 tons, and can maintain 33 knots.
I can't imagine that it would be too difficult to design. I mean this is the same navy that designed the new Gerald Ford Class, and the old Iowa Class.

I mean, it shouldn't be that difficult. It's not rocket science.

But then agian, there is that blasted FCS thing, that doesn't really take into account feed back from the realities in the field. Smaller, faster, more mobile, more leathal, more aware all sound nice. But when rounds are coming down range, that "Legacy" armor/protection sure comes in handy.
I mean really, Look at the Canadian's lesson when it comes to the tank. They thought they could do without one, and were going to get the Stryker MGS, but lessons in Afghanistan showed that when it comes down to it a MBT, is still a good choice, and damn well needed.

Wow, great thread. I wanted to see this ship go through lake st. clair but I missed it.:cry: I was interested in seeing how it looked on my Gradys radar:ping: . Etienne, if you were on the bridge of a laker while she passed by did you happen to see how large of contact she was on radar? I've always wondered how much smaller the RCS is on a stealthy ship. I know the LCS isn't as radical as a Visby class or those Norwegian Skjold class boats but I would think its stealthy enough to be a little smaller on radar.
I like the LCS idea. I think it will be better than the current OHPs at mucking it up with 3rd world threats but I don't know how good it will be against Chinese, Russian, or Indian threats. I think the LCS-2 might be a better platform just because it has more space to add modules.
Does anyone know where the non-line of sight missiles are housed and fired from? Is there a VLS on the roof somewhere? Also, wiki says it has ASW torps, does anyone know if they are fired from the ship or are they only deployed by the UAVs and helis? Is the ship really undercrewed for damage control? 40-50 core plus another 70 or so with a mission package sounds like a decent complement for a ship that size and on par with at least some of the modern ships around the same size.
JALU3, I agree, you would THINK the Future Combat Systems of the US army would have gone through a massive "rethink" about all the lightly armored, more mobile tanks after Iraq. If a drum filled with explosives hidden in a pile of garbage can harm heavy armor what good is a light tank with a quick kill anti-missile system?
Are there any sites with info on the equipment for each of the LCS mission mods? Weapons, sensors, so on

....Did you just say that you think Russia, China, and India will attack?

I said I don't know how well the LCS would fare against threats from China, Russia, or India.

It's doubtful in the current geopolitical climate that a war would occur between the major powers, however, at the same time, you have to see possible threats, and design against them.
Plus think of who supplies weapons. China & Russia are major suppliers.