Milley said it's important to focus on the Navy's capabilities rather than the size of its fleet. Navy has dipped from 318 ships to 297, while the Chinese fleet has grown from 210 to 360 ships over the past two decades. Rob Wittman, R-Virginia, suggested the ship cuts were вЂњgrossly irresponsibleвЂќ when the U.S. Mark Milley, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on the proposal. The House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday grilled Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Army Gen. In the end, the Navy may be content with smaller numbers of Freedom-class ships for maritime security and small surface combatant operations, said Bryan Clark, defense analyst at the Hudson Institute.Д¬ongress must sign off on the Navy's proposal to decommission ships ahead of their projected service life. In the NavyвЂ™s defense, threats shifted swiftly from the Cold War to the war on terror to the current Great Power Competition in which Russia and China are asserting themselves, he said.

What it was supposed to do isnвЂ™t enough for the kind of threats that we face today,вЂќ said Thompson, from the Lexington Institute. Some detractors proclaimed littoral combat ships to be the NavyвЂ™s вЂњLittle Crappy Ship,вЂќ but thatвЂ™s not fair, said defense analyst Loren Thompson. вЂњThe Navy owes a public apology to American taxpayers for wasting tens of billions of dollars on ships they now say serve no purpose,вЂќ she said.

Elaine Luria, D-Virginia, was more blunt, tweeting that it вЂњsucksвЂќ to be decommissioning so many ships, especially newer ones. Senate Armed Services Committee, said the program was plagued by troubles from the start, and that вЂњmoving forward the Navy must avoid similar acquisition disasters.вЂќ Jim Inhofe, the ranking Republican on the U.S. The Navy proposes keeping a second variant, the aluminum Independence class. That entire class of ships suffers from a propulsion defect that will be costly repair. The speedy Freedom-class ships proposed for decommissioning feature a traditional steel hull. Early versions also were criticized as too lightly armed and armored to survive combat. But those mission modules were beset by problems, and the anti-submarine capability was canceled in the new budget.ДЄnd what about that speed? The fastest ship canвЂ™t outrun missiles, and firing up those marine turbines for an extra burst of speed turned the ships into gas guzzlers, analysts said. The ships were supposed to be made versatile through plug-and-play mission modules for surface combat, mine-sweeping operations or anti-submarine warfare.

The ships topped 50 mph (80 kph) - fast enough to chase down pirates - and utilized steerable waterjets instead of conventional propellers. The Navy envisioned fast, highly maneuverable warships capable of operating in near-shore, littoral waters when it announced the program a few months after Sept. However, the littoral combat ships that are targeted are young. Those cuts surpass the proposed nine ships to be built. вЂњWe need a ready, capable, lethal force more than we need a bigger force thatвЂ™s less ready, less lethal, and less capable,вЂќ he said Monday at the Navy League's Sea-Air-Space symposium in Maryland.ДЄll told, the Navy wants to scrap 24 ships, including five cruisers and a pair of Los Angeles-class submarines, as part of its cost-cutting needed to maintain the existing fleet and build modern warships. Mike Gilday, chief of naval operations, defended the proposal that emphasizes long-range weapons and modern warships, while shedding other ships ill equipped to face current threats.

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