The Navy tested its Littoral Combat Ships against underwater explosions that were weaker than traditional testing standards, according to the Pentagon's top weapons tester. The shock trials conducted on the Independence-variant Jackson (LCS-6) and the Freedom-variant Milwaukee (LCS-5) this past year were done at "reduced severity," J. Michael Gilmore, the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation, revealed in written testimony for a Dec. 1 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the LCS program . The Navy conducted the trials...