The Navy has just put its sixth littoral combat ship through one of its toughest performance tests.
On Wednesday, the service announced that the USS Jackson, the third of the trimaran-variant LCS vessels and the first delivered by Austal USA, had completed the first of three shock trials in the Atlantic Ocean. These tests are no joke: they model a ship's ability to survive a nearby underwater explosion.
And yes, they involve real explosives.
According to the Navy, "during shock trials, ships experience the effects of 10,000-pound explosive charge detonations which occur successively closer to the ship. These trials are critical to the ship and crew's survivability and provide the best means to assess the shock response of a manned ship and the interaction of the ship's systems and components."
Here's a short video showing shock trials for the Arleigh-Burke Class guided missile destroyer Winston S. Churchill, complete with footage of how it shakes up the inside of the ship:
The Jackson will be blasted twice more in coming weeks.
