Over the past two weeks, the American Navy has scrapped four ships. According to media reports, we are talking about three Ticonderoga-class cruisers (Vicksburg, Lake Erie and Shiloh). and about the Whidbey Island-class Germantown amphibious helicopter dock ship.
The Germantown decommissioning ceremony took place on September 24 at the San Diego Naval Base. The ship was built at the Lockheed Shipbuilding shipyard in Seattle, Washington, and commissioned in February 1986.
Decommissioning of the Germantown DVD, USA
US Navy
Named after the Battle of Germantown, which took place on October 4, 1777, during the American Revolutionary War, the ship was initially based in San Diego, and then it was transferred to Sasebo (Japan).
During her service, Germantown supported amphibious operations of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. It became the first amphibious dock ship to conduct operations using LCAC-type amphibious hovercraft.
The ship participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, as well as in Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
A day later, on September 25, the decommissioning ceremony of the cruiser Lake Erie took place at the same base in San Diego, marking the end of the ship's 33-year service. Commissioned in July 1993, the cruiser played an important role in the development and operational testing of the Aegis missile defense system, including the first interceptions of ballistic missiles.
Over the years, the cruiser Lake Erie has operated in the Pacific Ocean, the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The missions he participated in included Operation Southern Watch, the withdrawal of peacekeepers from Somalia as part of Operation United Shield, and Operation Burnt Frost in February 2008, when the ship intercepted and destroyed a malfunctioning American satellite. In 2017, the cruiser participated in Operation Unwavering Resolve and provided humanitarian assistance after severe floods and landslides in Sri Lanka.
The ship completed its operational service in June 2026 after 11 months of continuous performance of tasks in the area of responsibility of the 4th Fleet of the US Navy as part of Operation Southern Spear.
And on September 30, the cruiser Shiloh was laid to rest at the joint base Pearl Harbor–Hickam. Joining the service in July 1992, she became the 21st representative of the Ticonderoga class and spent 17 years as an advanced ship based in Yokosuka (Japan), where she arrived in August 2006.
Decommissioning of the cruiser Shiloh, USA
Petty Officer 1st Class Claire Alfaro/US Navy
The Shiloh cruiser participated in combat operations, humanitarian missions, and multinational exercises in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. During Operation Desert Strike in 1996 and Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2002, the cruiser launched Tomahawk missiles. In early 2005, the ship supported Operation United Aid, providing humanitarian assistance to communities affected by the December 2004 tsunami off the coast of Aceh, Indonesia.
"The decommissioning of the ships reflects the Navy's transition from outdated Ticonderoga–class cruisers to more modern combat capabilities," Naval Today states. – "Shiloh" will be transferred to the naval base for maintenance of inactive ships in Bremerton (Washington State), where it will be transferred to the category of logistics facilities. The Navy has not yet clarified the fate of the cruiser."
Towing of the cruiser "Vicksburg", USA
Al Stinger / Navy Recognition
In addition, in early October, it became known that another Ticonderoga–class cruiser, the Vicksburg, left the naval base for maintenance of inactive ships in Philadelphia and headed to Brownsville (Texas) for final disposal. According to Navy Recognition, the ship has been undergoing modernization for the past eight years, but has not returned to the operational staff of the American fleet.
The modernization of the cruiser began with a contract with BAE Systems worth up to $42.9 million in 2017 and expanded through a $175 million lifetime extension program that began in January 2020. By September 2023, staff at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center estimated that an additional $100 million would be needed to complete the upgrade by fiscal year 2025, excluding the docking required to repair the faulty dome of the sonar complex, while the program office estimated the cost of completing the upgrade at $120 million.
The U.S. Court of Auditors (Government Accountability Office, GAO) considered these estimates too optimistic, as a senior navy official believed that the Vicksburg was still many years away from completion, while in September 2023, its command center still had disabled and unusable control consoles.
By fiscal year 2024, the US Navy has recognized that the cost of repairing the cruiser outweighs the possible benefits that the ship will be able to bring if its service life is extended. The command estimated that keeping the Vicksburg in service would require $64 million in fiscal year 2024 and $524 million during the five-year modernization plan.
However, even the repair of the dome of the sonar complex has not been completed. The cruiser had to leave the dry dock so that another ship could enter it, while the modernization remained incomplete. By September 2023, the Vicksburg was also used as a spare parts donor to support the operation of the Gettysburg cruiser and other Ticonderoga-class ships, and by April 2024, its gun systems and much of its equipment had been dismantled.
