The Pentagon saw a warship boondoggle. Congress saw jobs
Feb. 5, 2023 at 8:36 pm Updated Feb. 5, 2023 at 9:06 pm
By Eric Lipton
The New York Times
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The 387-foot-long warships tied up at the Jacksonville Navy base were acclaimed as some of the most modern in the United States fleet: nimble, superfast vessels designed to operate in coastal waters and hunt down enemy submarines, destroy anti-ship mines and repel attacks from small boats, such as those often operated by Iran.
But the Pentagon last year made a startling announcement: Eight of the 10 Freedom-class littoral combat ships based in Jacksonville and another based in San Diego would be retired, even though they averaged only four years old and had been built to last 25 years.
The decision came after the ships, built in Wisconsin by Fincantieri Marinette Marine in partnership with Lockheed Martin, suffered a series of humiliating breakdowns, including repeated engine failures and technical shortcomings in an anti-submarine system intended to counter China’s growing naval capacity.
“We refused to put an additional dollar against that system that wouldn’t match the Chinese undersea threat,” Adm. Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations, told Senate lawmakers.
The Navy estimated that the move would save $4.3 billion over the next five years, money that Gilday said he would rather spend on missiles and other firepower needed to prepare for potential wars. Having ships capable of fulfilling the military mission, he argued, was much more important than the Navy’s total ship count.
Then the lobbying started.
https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation-politics/the-pentagon-saw-a-warship-boondoggle-congress-saw-jobs/
