US Navy’s first 4 littoral combat ships to leave the fleet in 9 months

Thanks to Fillippo for the link!

via Defense News.

The Navy’s first four littoral combat ships will be headed into mothballs next March, according to a June 20 message from the chief of naval operations.

The littoral combat ships Freedom, Independence, Fort Worth and Coronado will all be inactivated on March 31, 2021, with Coronado being commissioned just six years ago.

The Navy decided to cut the ships to save money on modernization efforts as it faces a mountain of shipbuilding bills and upgrade costs.

The ships were supposed to be used as test vessels for the continued standing up of the LCS class, but LCS 1 through 4 have just about reached the end of their usefulness as test vessels and are no longer worth a deeper financial investment, according to a February briefing by Rear Adm. Randy Crites, the deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget.

Story here. 

A modest proposal.  I'm not at all convinced that slow moving tramp steamer like ships will be of benefit to the Marine Corps..the new Corps...under Berger's concept.

So how about we play with the old idea of putting mission modules for amphibious warfare on these speed boats and see if they have some utility as fast intertheater transports?

Remember the idea of adding a ramp to the Expeditionary Fast Transport so that they could do instream launches of AAVs, handle aircraft etc?

Let's see what we could do with a properly modified LCS!  Just an idea.