The Littoral Combat Ship Should Serve as a Warning to the US Navy

The Navy commissioned USS Cleveland, the sixteenth and last Freedom-class littoral combat ship, on May 16. Ten weeks later it decommissioned USS Fort Worth at barely 14 years old, the sixth Freedom-class hull retired early after Freedom, Detroit, Milwaukee, Sioux City, and Little Rock. The class cost north of $20 billion, lost its anti-submarine module in 2022, and was built on a premise the Navy has repeated twice since: adapt an existing design to save time and money.