THE NAVY WANTS TO DECOMMISSION 24 SHIPS. ARE PLANS FOR A MEGA-FLEET DEAD?
Hope Seck | April 3, 2022
In 2016, the U.S. Navy announced that it needed 355 manned ships by around 2050 to execute mission requirements around the globe – up from the 308 currently in the fleet. But the fiscal 2023 White House budget request released on March 28 calls for the retirement of 24 ships and the construction of just nine, leaving the Navy further from its fleet-building goal than when it started. There are only 298 battle-force ships in service today, and that number is on track to dip even lower in coming years.
Most shocking is the Navy’s decision to decommission 16 ships that had not yet reached the end of their service lives, including nine of the relatively new littoral combat ships—a class that has proved unreliable and ill-equipped for its designated mission sets. So what does this mean for the service and its hopes for a bigger fleet? Here are answers to the seven most pressing questions about the future of the U.S. Navy fleet.
Which Ships Are on the Chopping Block?
The Navy wants to decommission nine littoral combat ships, five Ticonderoga-class cruisers, two submarines, two Henry J. Kaiser-class replenishment oilers, two expeditionary transfer docks and four amphibious dock landing ships, Rear Adm. John Gumbleton, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for Budget, told reporters in a briefing following the release of the budget request
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