Though the USS Fort Worth’s mechanical damage made its early retirement a foregone conclusion, the decommissioning of one of America’s newest—and most expensive—warships has raised eyebrows on Capitol Hill. 

On Wednesday afternoon, the United States Navy decommissioned the Freedom-class littoral combat ship (LCS) USS Fort Worth (LCS-3) at a ceremony at Naval Base San Diego. The Fort Worth is one of 14 warships that will be decommissioned or inactivated in Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26).

However, unlike the Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Germantown (LSD-42) or the Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine USS Newport News (SSN-750)—both of which are also headed for the scrap heap this year after decades of service—LCS-3 was only commissioned in September 2012, making it a mere 13 years old at the time of its decommissioning. It is a rare example of a military vessel that is being retired from service even as it is younger than its entire crew—and stands in remarkable contrast to platforms like the United States Air Force’s B-52 Stratofortress long-range strategic aircraft, which are being flown by pilots who could be the grandchildren of the original bomber drivers.

To put it in context, the oldest B-52s could be closing in on a century of service by the time they are finally retired, whereas the USS Forth Worth is barely a “teenager”!

When commissioned, LCS-3 was intended to be operational for around 25 years; its early retirement is coming a decade early, brought on largely by reliability issues. What is also notable is that the defense appropriations bill, signed by President Donald Trump on February 3, 2026, actually limited the decommissioning of just one LCS this year. With USS Forth Worth being the oldest of the Freedom class, its fate was all but sealed.

The USS Fort Worth’s Service Was Already Extended Once

It could be added that LCS-3 has been on borrowed time.

The USS Forth Worth has been in and out of service since 2016, when it suffered serious damage to its combining gear, the system that links the gas turbine and diesel engines to the water jet shafts, leaving it essentially dead in the water. Although a subsequent investigation revealed the failure was the result of crew members not following proper procedures during an operational test of the diesel engines, the vessel was sidelined for several months.

Given such issues with the earliest models of the Freedom-class littoral combat ships and a lack of a clear mission that resulted from Congress canceling its mission modules, the US Navy sought to see the ship decommissioned as early as 2019, only seven years after it had entered service. Frustration at such a short lifespan led Congressional lawmakers to push back—requiring in that year’s defense bill that the warship remain in service, even as it earned the colorful nickname “Little Crappy Ship” by those unfortunate enough to crew it.

The LCSes Were the Wrong Ships at the Wrong Time

The US Navy was accepting delivery of the littoral combat ships despite the flaws, and retiring the oldest models. The newest and active Freedom-class vessels have redesigned combining gears to address the critical propulsion and transmission breakdowns, and the sea service instituted operational forces that improved the day-to-day readiness of the remaining hulls. Likewise, a structural cracking issue with the Independence-class was also mitigated with targeted reinforcement plating, but the fact remains that the LCSes are vessels that were conceived during the Global War on Terrorism, when the United States faced a very different threat environment, and not the warships that could be needed in a conflict with a near-peer adversary such as China.

Although designed for use in littoral waters such as the South China Sea, the lack of original “plug-and-play” interchangeable mission modules leaves the LCS without its intended multirole capability. As warships, they are lightly armed and lack adequate defense and survivability for high-end conflicts. The LCS is built with minimal protection and light aluminum or only semi-planing steel hulls, and also has no long-range anti-ship missiles or a robust air-defense missile system.

That partially explains why the US Navy hasn’t deployed larger numbers to the Red Sea or the Strait of Hormuz, regions for which the vessels were initially designed. At best, the LCS seems as though it might be suited to drug interdiction roles, which far cheaper US Coast Guard cutters already perform as one of their primary duties.

The US Navy has been equipping some of the remaining Independence-class littoral combat ships with the Mine Countermeasures (MCM) Mission Package, allowing the ships to replace the service’s aging wooden Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships.

The LCS Was the First And Only USS Fort Worth

Somewhat surprisingly, LCS-3 is the first ship to be named for Fort Worth, Texas, which helps explain why its early decommissioning has been seen as a sad affair for the Lone Star State.

During its brief career, the warship earned two Battle “E” awards, once in 2013 and another in 2019, as well as a CNO Afloat Safety Award during service with the Pacific Fleet in 2014.

USS Fort Worth will be inactivated, and the US Navy will then remove all vital and reusable components for other Freedom-class LCS. Options are now being explored where the hull could be used as an artificial reef.

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

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