![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5436677.jpg.jpg\")
As the Navy watches their performance in ongoing maintenance availabilities, \u201cwe don\u2019t have the confidence, as we\u2019re seeing growth work and new work, that those ships will get out of the maintenance phase, be able to get through a work-up cycle \u2026 which is a year long, and then go on deployment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why keep them if \u201cwe can\u2019t get them away from the pier,\u201d Conn wondered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It would cost about $3 billion to keep the Whidbey Island amphibious ships and cruisers the Navy wants to decommission, but Conn argues that money would be better spent on other ships. Additionally, decommissioning the ships rather than continuing their unsuccessful maintenance availabilities would free up sailors for other ship assignments at sea and would free up repair yards to work on ships that are more badly needed by the fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who serves in the Marine Corps Reserve, told Conn the Navy\u2019s plan to decommission these ships brings the fleet lower than the now-statutory requirement for 31 ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is not a suggestion, it\u2019s a law,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have a law, we passed it \u2026 and the Navy comes out and says: \u2018Eh, we\u2019ll just blow off those silly U.S. senators.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conn told him that \u201chaving 31 ships, of which three of them may be tied to a pier for the next five years, is not really 31.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sen. Dan Sullivan accused the Navy of blowing off last year’s law requiring a fleet of at least 31 amphibious warships, amid plans to retire three early.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":17334,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":38,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[38,31,9],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3325],"class_list":["post-33338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress","category-home","category-federal-oversight"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"XWTOUHHAHFECZJZPTHQSJXHZSU","arc_canonical_url":"\/congress\/2023\/03\/30\/lawmakers-decry-us-navys-plan-to-decommission-aging-amphibious-ships\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n