LCS at sea

The Navy's LCS-2 is undergoing sea trials; you can see some images and a brief story here.

One thing that baffles me - a lot of people in the mainstream media seem to be comparing the ship type to destroyers. They're not at all, and were never intended as such. The more appropriate parallel would be to corvettes and minesweepers.

Yes, I realize that the ships are far more flexible than those types, and I also know that there's a bit of prejudice in some people's minds that equates smaller vessels with "inferior." But I think a lot of the criticism that's been heaped on the LCS vessels is simply blowback from a public relations campaign that made them seem more than they were intended to be. (That and the expense, though people are ALWAYS going to bitch about costs.)

I don't know how good these ships are or will be; even the sea trials won't give the whole story. But it would be refreshing to read criticism - and praise - that actually relates to the ships' class, rather than some imagined category.