Why the Littoral Combat Ship still merits harsh criticism

Are the Freedom and Independence classes judged too harshly because of the strategic climate in which they were created?

No; their basic design errors remain inexcusable, and the extreme speed requirement compromised too many other qualities.

A permissive strategic climate does not excuse elementary engineering failures such as inadequate sacrificial anodes. The panel treats the demand for more than 40 knots as the requirement that distorted the rest of the design. Removing it could have produced a useful small frigate or large patrol vessel with more steel, endurance, and upgrade margin. That alternative would be a fundamentally different ship, and the Coast Guard neither requested nor needed the vessel that was actually built.