USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) Arrives in Singapore

Photo - US Navy

USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) arrived in Singapore Dec. 29 as part of a 16-month rotational deployment to 7th Fleet in support of the Indo-Asia-Pacific rebalance.

As part of an initiative to deploy up to four littoral combat ships to the region on a rotational basis, Fort Worth will operate out of Singapore as a maintenance and logistics hub from which the ship will conduct patrols and train with regional navies during exercises like Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training.

Fort Worth is the first LCS to deploy under the "3-2-1" manning concept, swapping fully trained crews roughly every four months. This concept allows Fort Worth to deploy six months longer than the 2013 USS Freedom (LCS 1) deployment and twice as long as typical U.S. Navy ship deployments, extending LCS forward presence and reducing crew fatigue for the entire 16-month deployment. It is named 3-2-1 because three rotational crews will support two LCS ships and maintain one deployed ship.