US Navy plans to decommission 24 of its ships to save maintenance cost

News, US April 9, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

The U.S. Navy released a list of 24 of its ships that would be decommissioned from service by the fiscal year 2023. Eight of these ships have completed their predefined services life while 16 of the ships from the list would be retired to save the naval budget as these ships are not worth the spending due to their rising cost and easy replaceability.

The list of ships that are being retired after completing their service life includes four Ticonderoga-class cruisers that are being retired after 35 years of service, two Los Angeles-Class attack submarines after completing a services life of 33 years and two Kaiser-class oil tankers that have also completed their service life of 35 years.

Details of these ships are stated below:

Ship Name	Date of Commission
USS Bunker Hill (CG-52)	09/20/1986
USS Mobile Bay (CG-53)	02/21/1987
USS San Jacinto (CG-56)	01/23/1988
USS Lake Champlain (CG-57)	08/12/1988
USS Chicago (SSN-721)	09/27/1986
USS Key West (SSN-722)	09/12/1987
USNS John Lenthall (T-AO-189)	06/25/1987
USNS Walter S. Diehl (T-AO-193)	09/13/1988

Other 16 ships are being decommissioned to save the maintenance cost including nine Freedom-variant littoral combat ships (LCS). All of these nine ships need major repairs and combining gear replacement after a major technical flaw was detected in late 2020. After U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin and subcontractor RENK developed a replacement plan for the combining gear system, it was decided to replace the LCSs instead of fixing the flaw.

The Freedom-variant ships would be decommissioned far ahead of their actual age. Each LCS has an actual service life of at least 25 years, however, the enlisted ships are between 2 years to 10 years old.

Apart from the nine LCS ships, the U.S. Navy has decided to grant early retirement to one cruiser, USS Vicksburg (CG-69). The reason behind cruisers’ early retirement is its inability to catch up with the ongoing modernization program for the cruisers of its class. Instead of bringing the cruiser up to modern standards, the U.S. Navy has decided to give early retirement to the cruiser to save cost.

^{The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Vicksburg (CG 69) passes through the Strait of Gibraltar while escorting the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) on March 31, 2015. (Image Credit: U.S. Navy Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Anna Van Nuys)}

The U.S. Navy would also retire four of its Whidbey Island-class Dock Landing Ships. The same reason has been cited for the early retirement of these ships, as U.S. Navy is struggling to bring get the ships through its modernization program. The ships have been planned to retire 6-8 years ahead of their actual service life which is at least 40 years.

Two Montford Point-class transfer docks have also been listed for early retirement. These ships have been mainly used as oil tankers as well as mobile landing platforms. The two transfer docks are being retired 8 and 9 years ahead of their actual service age.

A detailed list of the 16 early retiring ships is given below:

Ships Name	Date of Commission
USS Vicksburg (CG-69)	11/14/1992
USS Germantown (LSD-42)	02/08/1986
USS Gunston Hall (LSD-44)	04/22/1989
USS Tortuga (LSD-46)	11/17/1990
USS Ashland (LSD-48)	05/09/1992
USS Fort Worth (LCS-3)	08/06/2012
USS Milwaukee (LCS-5)	11/21/2015
USS Detroit (LCS-7)	10/22/2016
USS Little Rock (LCS-9)	12/16/2017
USS Sioux City (LCS-11)	11/17/2018
USS Wichita (LCS-13)	01/12/2019
USS Billings (LCS-15)	08/03/2019
USS Indianapolis (LCS-17)	10/26/2019
USS St. Louis (LCS-19)	08/08/2020
USNS Montford Point (T-ESD-1)	05/14/2013
USNS John Glenn (T-ESD-2)	03/12/2014