{"id":136013,"date":"2020-07-01T20:34:21","date_gmt":"2020-07-01T20:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/07\/01\/the-us-navys-first-4-littoral-combat-ships-are-out-of-the-fleet-in-9-months\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:02:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:02:20","slug":"the-us-navys-first-4-littoral-combat-ships-are-out-of-the-fleet-in-9-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2020\/07\/01\/the-us-navys-first-4-littoral-combat-ships-are-out-of-the-fleet-in-9-months\/","title":{"rendered":"US Navy\u2019s first 4 littoral combat ships to leave the fleet in 9 months"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The Navy\u2019s first four littoral combat ships <\/a>will be headed into mothballs next March, according to a June 20 message<\/a> from the chief of naval operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The littoral combat ships<\/a> Freedom, Independence, Fort Worth and Coronado will all be inactivated on March 31, 2021, with Coronado being commissioned just six years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Navy decided to cut the ships to save money on modernization efforts as it faces a mountain of shipbuilding bills and upgrade costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ships were supposed to be used as test vessels for the continued standing up of the LCS class, but LCS 1 through 4 have just about reached the end of their usefulness as test vessels and are no longer worth a deeper financial investment, according to a February briefing by Rear Adm. Randy Crites, the deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\t