Navy scraps NINE anti-submarine warships that cost $3.2 billion

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Hmmm....... spend $3.2 billion, throw it away and save $391 million. Build back better.  

The youngest littoral combat ship (LCS), the USS St. Louis, launched in August 2020.

It will serve just three of its 25-year planned service life before it is taken for scrap.

The touted LCS vessels, which were thought to be the 'future' of the US Navy, are among 24 warships to be decommissioned in 2023.

Cracks were also found on the Navy's Independence-class warships, prompting new inspection procedures.

'The issue was identified following routine quality assurance checks and does not pose a risk to the safety of Sailors on board the ships.

Crews at the Naval Station will now have to wait for new ships to arrive.



The news comes as fears of China's growing navy persist.

Beijing will have 460 ships by 2030, the Pentagon has estimated.

That will make China's the world's largest navy, overtaking the United States.

Under current Navy plans, the US will have just 280 ships five years from now.

Admiral Gilday told the Senate last week that America would be unable to fight a war on two fronts with its current equipment.

Answered speculation from Sen. Josh Hawley that the US could have to fight in eastern Europe and the South China Sea at the same time, the admiral said: 'I think we'd be challenged.

'Right now, the force is not sized to handle two simultaneous conflicts. It's sized to fight one and to keep a second adversary in check, but in terms of two all-out conflicts, we are not sized for that.'

Sen. Jim Inhofe, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, tweeted: 'With the Chinese Navy steadily climbing to 460 ships by 2030, the unforced errors in Navy shipbuilding, like the Littoral Combat Ship, must stop.

'Programs that can scale up and grow our fleet must be the priority.'

Daily Mail