The littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth arrived in Sasebo on Wednesday, marking the first time one of the new class of ships has visited Japan.
The San Diego-based ship is also the first to deploy under the “3-2-1” manning concept, which allows littoral combat ships to sustain a 16-month rotational presence without fatiguing the crew during the extended deployment.
It is named 3-2-1 because three rotational crews will support two ships and maintain one deployed ship. Two additional crew swaps will occur during the remainder of Fort Worth’s deployment, roughly every four months.
“We’re excited to be in Japan,” said Cmdr. Matt Kawas. “The Japanese are a strong maritime partner and we’re looking forward to bringing them aboard to show all that the LCS platform offers.”
Fort Worth is the second littoral combat ship to deploy to U.S. 7th Fleet as part of an initiative to simultaneously deploy up to four in the Asia-Pacific region by the end of the decade.
Fast, agile and mission-focused, littoral combat ships are designed to operate in near-shore environments and employ modular mission packages that can be configured for surface warfare, mine countermeasures or anti-submarine warfare. The Navy is building 52 in two variants.