Littoral Combat Ship, Zumwalt, and Constellation-Class All Failed: Maybe The U.S. Navy Can’t Build A Navy

Littoral Combat Ship, Zumwalt, and Constellation-Class All Failed: Maybe The U.S. Navy Can’t Build A Navy

In May, the U.S. Navy commissioned its final Littoral Combat Ship in a ceremony in Cleveland, closing out a program that began in 2008, promising a versatile, affordable fleet of small combatants and ending with decommissioned hulls barely a decade old for want of a usable mission. Six months earlier, the Navy had canceled the Constellation-class frigate outright, its lead ship roughly 12 percent built years after construction started. Between t…