Mayport, Fla. - March 2019: Freedom-class littoral combat ships USS Sioux City (LCS 11) and USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) moor alongside one another during a nesting evolution on Naval Station Mayport, Fla. Nesting is when two naval vessels are moored alongside due to limited dock space. (Navy photo by MCS Seaman Marianne Guemo)
By: FEDweek StaffThe Navy wants to mothball all eight Freedom-class littoral combat ships (LCS) – the newest of which was commissioned only two years ago. The U.S. Naval Institute Press reported that the request is contained in the proposed 2023 defense-spending bill.
The ships – Fort Worth, Milwaukee, Detroit, Little Rock, Sioux City, Wichita, Billings and St. Louis – are among 24 vessels in total that the Navy would like to retire. By doing so, the service anticipates it would realize a savings of some $3.6 billion, USNI reported.
The Freedom-class vessels were built with the idea that platforms could be modified to suit specific missions. The USNI report noted that the Navy was specifically interested in outfitting the ships with variable depth low-frequency active sonar, to help meet the need to identify the latest generation of Russian navy submarines.
