US Navy Scraps Single Hull Littoral Combat Ships

The US Navy has scrapped 9 new Littoral Combat ships due to structural hull defect problems and failed anti-submarine systems.

The United States Navy is decommissioning nine of its Freedom-variant Littoral Combat Ship and eliminating the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) missions for the combat vessels. The Navy called to scrap 24 of its vessels as part of a budget proposal and use the savings to modernize the rest of its fleet.

Littoral Class Ships (LCS) have been platform seeking a problem rather than addressing one. They were designed as the Global War on Terror (GWOT) was starting. They could operate close to shore against missile-firing boats and small submarines and delivery and support Navy seals.

None of this worked. Sailors called them Little Crappy Ships. The Navy wasted $3.2 billion on the LCS program. Cancelling the LCS will have about $400 million of additional spending.

tTe Navy wants to cut the nine LCS vessels, five Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers, four landing dock ships, two Los Angeles-class submarines, two oilers, and two expeditionary transfer docks.

Russia has lost 5 ships so far in the Ukraine war including the flagship of the Black Sea fleet. Russia has about 14 ships that are destroyers or larger and only 11 or 12 are working. The aircraft carrier is not working. The US has about 130 ships destroyers or larger. China has about 40 destroyer or larger ships.

SOURCES- Navy Times
Written by Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com