The fastest U.S. Navy ship still in service is the Freedom-class littoral combat ship (LCS). Officially, it’s « 40+ knots, » with some claiming 47 knots exactly.
Several U.S. naval ships are capable of reaching record-breaking speeds. As of this writing, the fastest U.S. Navy ship still in service is the Freedom-class littoral combat ship (LCS). Officially, it’s « 40+ knots », the U.S. Navy likely withholding its top speed for national security reasons. Unofficial sources, such as the National Interest, cite 47 knots as the Freedom-class LCS’s speed ceiling — that’s just over 54 miles per hour.
Of course, whatever the true top speed for the LCS may be, it’s certainly far from the top speeds of the fastest motorboats ever built, which can reach hundreds of miles per hour. However, naval engineers are tasked with balancing speed and nimbleness with a ship measuring roughly 400 feet long and over 3,000 metric tons in weight.
The U.S. Navy commissioned most Freedom-class LCSs between 2010 and 2015, with about 11 to 14 ships in service at any one time. But the class hasn’t been free of problems. The Freedom-class LCS USS Detroit was pulled from service for maintenance after its high-speed clutch bearings failed, and an official investigation revealed the entire class suffered from the same problem. In response, a speed limit for all Freedom-class LCS ships was imposed while the issue could be corrected, reducing its top speed to 34 knots. Apparently, thanks to the ship’s faulty gearbox, 40+ knots was simply too fast.LCS design and other fast U.S. ships
In 2002, the U.S. Navy created the LCS program to develop a fast and nimble combat ship. To encourage competition, the contract was made available to both Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics.
