Aegis Cruiser Retirement Schedule
As you know, the Navy has tried for several years to eliminate the Ticonderoga class Aegis cruisers before their service life is even up. The reason for this is a baffling mystery other than the Navy’s constant fixation on new hulls, no matter how useless (looking at you, LCS).
Congress has, thus far, thwarted the Navy’s efforts which has led the Navy to concoct a scheme of de facto retirements whereby Aegis cruisers are placed into “modernization” for multiple years and will only be brought back into the fleet on a one-for-one replacement for decommissioned cruisers.
Here is the retirement schedule for the Aegis cruisers and their service length at that point. (1)
Year Ship Service Yrs
2020 Mobile Bay 33
2020 Bunker Hill 34
2021 Antietam 34
2021 Leyte Gulf 34
2022 San Jacinto 34
2022 Lake Champlain 34
2024 Philippine Sea 35
2024 Princeton 35
2025 Normandy
2025 Monterey
2026 Chancellorsville 37
You’ll note that the service life retirement ages do not agree with the recent ship service life extensions that have the Ticonderogas serving 42-52 years! I guess we’ll ignore that little inconsistency since the service life extensions were nothing but wishful thinking anyway.
This accounts for 11 of the 22 Aegis cruisers. The remainder will have undergone the “modernization” and displace the ships listed above. Presumably, after 2026 the “modernized” cruisers will be retired in short order. This is not at all what Congress intended. Once again, the Navy has found a way around Congressional intent and direction.
The Navy is continuing to push to put around half the class into a reduced operating status but Congress’ earlier resistance and distrust continues. Recall Congress’ earlier feelings,
Lawmakers made clear in hearings last year that they didn’t trust Navy leadership to bring the ships back into the fleet once they were taken out of service, particularly in bulk quantities. (2)
For the time being, the 2/4/6 plan remains in effect
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(1)Defense News website, “The US Navy will start losing its largest surface combatants in 2020”, David B. Larter, 8-Oct-2017 ,
(2)USNI News website, “FY 2017 Budget: Navy Wants to Modernize Last 7 Cruisers Instead of Following 2/4/6 Directive from Congress”, Megan Eckstein, 9-Feb-2016 ,
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