Littoral combat ship USS Fort Worth (LCS 3) arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 22 as part of a 16-month rotational deployment in support of the Indo-Asia-Pacific rebalance.
The port visit is Fort Worth’s first in Southeast Asia, and also marks the first LCS visit to Indonesia, an archipelagic nation that comprises 17,000 islands and the world’s third largest democracy.
Southeast Asia is a textbook example of a littoral region and an area where LCS is uniquely suited to operate. With its maneuverability, high speed and shallow draft, LCS provides regular and routine presence in the region and access to places where larger U.S. Navy ships cannot go.
Fort Worth is of comparable size to the warships operated by regional navies in Southeast Asia, and a major benefit of the platform is its ability to work with them during exercises like Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT). Fort Worth is scehduled to return to Indonesia in 2015 as part of the CARAT series.
Since departing San Diego Nov. 17, Fort Worth transited the Pacific Ocean, and visited Hawaii and Guam. Following the Jakarta port visit, Fort Worth will head to Singapore, the primary maintenance and logistics hub for littoral combat ships rotationally deployed to 7th Fleet.
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Press release, Image: US Navy