The U.S. Navy has just decommissioned a modern warship that cost 362 million dollars and was in service for less than five years.
The warship in question is the USS Sioux City, a freedom-class littoral combat ship that was commissioned in November 2018 and decommissioned in August 2023.
That's only 4 years and 9 months of service, which is way below the expected lifespan of 25 years.
The ship cost 362 million to build, which means it cost about 77 million per year of service.
That's a lot of money for a ship that didn't do much. The Littoral Combat Ship is a small, fast, and agile ship that was designed to operate in shallow waters and perform a variety of missions, such as anti-submarine warfare.
Mine countermeasures and surface warfare However, the LCS program has been plagued by problems since its inception, such as cost overruns, technical glitches, design flaws, and operational limitations.
The ships are almost as expensive to operate as destroyers. As a result, the Navy has decided to divest itself of as many LCS as possible and redirect its focus to other priorities, such as the Constellation class frigates and the Unmanned Surface Vessels.
