The Navy Is Set to Deploy 3 Littoral Combat Ships (But They Can't Fight Anyone)

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 As "a single hit will result in loss of propulsion, combat capability, and the ability to control damage and restore system operation."

After years of frequent mechanical failures ad embarrassing cost overruns, the Navy finally plans on deploying three hulls from its much-derided Littoral Combat Ship fleet by this fall after a protracted absence from the high seas, the U.S. Naval Institute reports.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, Naval Surface Forces commander Vice Adm. Richard Brown announced that the Navy is "deploying LCS this year, it's happening," despite the fact that the service didn't deploy a single one off its small surface combatants this year despite officials' previous plans to deploy several to join the 7th and 5th Fleets.

"Two ships are going on the West Coast; one ship is going on the East Coast, followed shortly [by a second] in the beginning of '20," USNI News reported. "And that marks the deployment of LCS; there will always be LCS forward-deployed now, just like we designed the program."