The US navy’s newly commissioned Littoral Combat Ship ‘USS Little Rock’ (LCS-9) is stuck indefinitely in Montreal due to extreme winter weather and an icy St. Lawrence River. US Navy must wait to move the vessel until the waterways become safe for passage again, probably in March.
Namely, ‘Little Rock’ departed Buffalo later than expected after its 16 December commissioning ceremony due to extreme weather conditions. The ship had a scheduled port call in Montreal over the holidays, but while transiting the icy St. Lawrence River to Montreal the ship saw damage to feedback cables.
Repairs to these cables were completed on January 4, and the ship was ready to depart Montreal, but the extreme weather conditions caused the delay, according to US Surface Force Atlantic spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson as quoted by USNI news.
“…Root cause of the failure is currently unknown, but based on components being frozen and iced over, it is likely that ice was a contributing factor.”
During the winter season, several commercial ships so far have become completely stuck as the river froze over in abnormally cold weather.
Cmdr. Hillson said the Little Rock crew has sufficient equipment and supplies to continue training pierside in Montreal. Once the ship is able to leave Montreal, it will resume its voyage to its new homeport in Mayport, Fla.
