XBradTC

First-in-class ships of the US Navy are routinely subjected to shock tests. That is, the Navy sets off a very large underwater explosion in quite close proximity to the ship, and takes note of what damage is done. Over the years, the Navy has gotten fairly good at hardening most of the electronics, plumbing, piping and such. The Littoral Combat Ships were built to a somewhat different survivability standard that most surface combatants. And so, they have been under pressure for some time to actually conduct a shock test.  This year, some 8 years after the first LCS was commissioned, they finally got around to it.