Photo: Facebook/USS Little Rock - LCS 9
The USS Little Rock (LCS-9) is one of the 39 warships that must be decommissioned by the Navy in the 2023 fiscal year. What makes its case particularly sad is that it only got to serve for six years, which also impacts its future. Plus, it was doomed from the start.
The final defense budget isn’t signed by President Joe Biden yet, but USS Little Rock is one of the names on the list of Navy ships that will be decommissioned next year, Arkansas Online reports. If this does happen on March 31, it will abruptly end the service of just six years.
It's not entirely Little Rock's fault. It was built and commissioned as part of a series of ships that were apparently flawed from the beginning. The nine Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) were meant to operate as high-speed vessels for shallow-water operations. But it seems that they suffered from issues with the combination gears. These issues caused Little Rock and other sister ships to have failures at sea.
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, who represents Arkansas' 3rd Congressional District and sits on the Appropriations Committee, told Arkansas Online that the entire LCS project, which began in 2006 with USS Freedom, turned out to be “a sad chapter in the history of the Navy.” Not only sad, we may add, but also costly, as each of these ships is believed to cost $362 million.
Millions that will be wasted once the USS Little Rock is decommissioned. Unfortunately, dismantlement or sinking are the most likely outcomes for this young ship. All inactive ships are sent to one of the three Inactive Ships Maintenance Offices, where they’re stored until final dispositions. If they are not sold or donated, they can only end up at the bottom of the ocean, or dismantled.
The short service time also makes it impossible for the LCS-9 to be transformed into a museum ship, like the CL-92 with the same name that served until 1976.
Even if there’s only a small chance for that, perhaps the USS Little Rock will somehow be able to start a new chapter, away from the LCS failure.
It's not entirely Little Rock's fault. It was built and commissioned as part of a series of ships that were apparently flawed from the beginning. The nine Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) were meant to operate as high-speed vessels for shallow-water operations. But it seems that they suffered from issues with the combination gears. These issues caused Little Rock and other sister ships to have failures at sea.
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, who represents Arkansas' 3rd Congressional District and sits on the Appropriations Committee, told Arkansas Online that the entire LCS project, which began in 2006 with USS Freedom, turned out to be “a sad chapter in the history of the Navy.” Not only sad, we may add, but also costly, as each of these ships is believed to cost $362 million.
Millions that will be wasted once the USS Little Rock is decommissioned. Unfortunately, dismantlement or sinking are the most likely outcomes for this young ship. All inactive ships are sent to one of the three Inactive Ships Maintenance Offices, where they’re stored until final dispositions. If they are not sold or donated, they can only end up at the bottom of the ocean, or dismantled.
The short service time also makes it impossible for the LCS-9 to be transformed into a museum ship, like the CL-92 with the same name that served until 1976.
Even if there’s only a small chance for that, perhaps the USS Little Rock will somehow be able to start a new chapter, away from the LCS failure.
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