US Navy sells off six of its newest Independence and Freedom class warships

The US Navy will soon start selling off new coastal ships. In March we wrote that the service does not need the USS Montgomery (LCS-8) and USS Jackson (LCS-6) Independence class. Now it is known that the US Navy wants to sell them along with four Freedom class ships.

Here's What We Know

The ships will be sold under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme within two years. The plans were described in a report to the US Congress on the annual long-term naval shipbuilding plan for fiscal year (FY) 2024.

The reason for abandoning the two Independence-class ships was previously cited as being overstaffed. Fifteen ships are required to provide effective defence of the west coast, while the Navy has ordered 19 units. Two had been decommissioned earlier.

USS Montgomery (LCS-8) and USS Jackson (LCS-6) will be available for sale in FY2024. USS Wichita (LCS 13), USS Billings (LCS 15), USS Indianapolis (LCS 17) and USS St Louis (LCS 19) will be available for sale in FY2025.

USS Jackson (LCS-6) is the oldest ship of the six. It entered service in 2015 and USS Montgomery (LCS-8) a year later. The Freedom class ships are even newer. They entered service in 2019-2020.

All six ships have proved very expensive to operate. Every year, the US Navy has to spend $70 million per naval vessel. To be clear, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers require $81m annually.

The Freedom and Independence ships have been used to test technology now used in other coastal ships. The US Navy believes that scrapping the six ships will free up funds to invest in higher priority projects.

So far, it is difficult to say who might become buyers of USS Montgomery (LCS-8), USS Jackson (LCS-6), USS Wichita (LCS 13), USS Billings (LCS 15), USS Indianapolis (LCS 17) and USS St Louis (LCS 19). There is also no information on how much the US Navy plans to price the ships.

Source: The War Zone