Littoral combat ships decommissioned at Mayport as new vessels are built; more cuts coming
Naval Station Mayport’s littoral combat ship fleet is smaller than it has been in years following the decommissioning of two vessels Friday, raising to four the number retired since August.
Four other Mayport-based LCS are scheduled to be taken out of service in 2025 and made available for sale to foreign navies.
The USS Detroit and USS Little Rock left active service in ceremonies just hours apart, having been closely involved in missions with other Mayport vessels almost until the day that crews left the LCS.
“Your unwavering commitment and dedication to duty have been an inspiration to us all. The legacy of Detroit will live on through your stories, your achievements, and the impact you have made on our nation's defense,” Capt. Meger Chappell, commanding officer of Mayport’s Destroyer Squadron 40, told Detroit’s crew at the ship’s decommissioning.
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Both ships had been involved this year in anti-narcotics missions with law enforcement detachments that blocked multimillion-dollar shipments of illegal drugs.
Detroit, which entered service in October 2016, was part of a crop of LCS the Navy began targeting for retirement at least by 2021.
The next year, top Navy brass recommended decommissioning eight Mayport-based LCS during the 2023 budget year, although members of Congress repeatedly pushed back, many saying it would be outrageous to scrap ships that were built to last 25 years after less than a decade of service.
The final budget for 2023 approved retiring only four Mayport LCS, which were quietly shut down as Sunday’s start of the federal government’s next budget year drew near.
The USS Sioux City was decommissioned Aug. 14, three months short of its fifth anniversary as a commissioned warship. The seven-year-old USS Milwaukee was taken out of service Sept. 8.
Navy officials had argued that the LCS, designed in the 2000s as small, fast vessels to operate in shallow, near-shore areas, posed an unnecessary cost at a time when the service needed to focus spending on stronger responses to growing military rivalry from China.
Littoral combat ship problems
A design problem specific to the type of LCS used at Mayport, known as the Freedom class, prevented ships from operating at full speed without risking crippling damage and required expensive refitting. That added fuel to the disparagement surrounding LCS, which critics derided as either “leaking, cracked ships” or “little, crappy ships.” Equipment meant to be added to the ships for specific missions was also delivered late or didn’t work.
The Navy said in 2022 that it had scrapped an ineffective antisubmarine warfare system that would have been used on some Freedom LCS, and a March report to the U.S. Senate by Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said the elimination left only six Freedom LCS needed for surface warfare missions.
With more ships in stock or under construction, the March report slotted the USS Wichita, USS Billings, USS Indianapolis and USS St. Louis to be decommissioned in 2025.
The 2025 retirements would leave just three active-duty Freedom LCS: the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul, USS Cooperstown and USS Marinette, which was commissioned Sept. 16.
Three other Freedom LCS, slated to be the Nantucket, Beloit and Cleveland, are still under development and are expected to be homeported at Mayport when they enter service.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Navy retires Mayport littoral combat ships USS Detroit, Little Rock
