The Littoral Combat Ship, in its final steps toward employment, is an entirely new breed of U.S. Navy warship. USS Freedom (LCS 1), scheduled to be commissioned in May 2007, introduces an advanced technological platform. It includes but is not limited to several new optimal manning and training concepts such as SHIPTRAIN and SMARTSHIP introduced by the U.S. Navy. The Littoral Combat Ship Wholeness Concept of Operations requires a crew to certify in 15 mission areas using its core crew and one additional mission area applicable to both the core crew and mission module personnel. Using a discrete event simulation tool call the Total Crew Model, this study analyzed the currently proposed Fleet Response Training Plan for Littoral Combat Ship. An examination using a 14-day training cycle snapshot of the 40 propsed crewmembers was found to be sufficient to sustain the ship through a training assessment phase. The snapshot evaluated crew endurances using 63, 67, and 70-hour workweeks. The modeling showed the 70-hour work week satisfied the manpower requirement workload as delineated in OPNAVINST 1000.16J. This work week, however, exceeded core crew endurances by 594 hours and 42% of the crew exceeded applicable fatigue levels. The model's results indicate that eight additional core crewmembers are required to conduct the training assessment phase without exceeding core crew endurance.
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