The decommissioned US Navy Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Vicksburg left the Philadelphia Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility under tow on Wednesday, September 30, and headed for Brownsville, Texas, for dismantling.
The departure followed an eight-year modernisation effort that did not return the ship to operational service. USNI News reported expenditure of US$754.1 million.
Vicksburg entered the navy's cruiser modernisation programme on July 1, 2016. The navy held her decommissioning ceremony on June 28, 2024.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that work on Vicksburg remained largely incomplete during a September 2023 inspection. Consoles in the combat information centre were wrapped, disconnected and unusable. Fleet officials later told the agency that the ship had been cannibalised for parts for USS Gettysburg and other cruisers.
Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center officials estimated in September 2023 that another US$100 million could complete the work by FY2025. The programme office estimated US$120 million.
The first estimate excluded drydocking to repair the non-functional sonar dome, and the GAO considered both estimates likely optimistic.
Contractor work on the sonar dome required rework after damage to one pressurised window during installation and a failed pressure test on another. Attempted fixes included unauthorised materials such as plastic wrap, household glue, expanding foam and a television-advertised sealant.
The GAO's December 2024 review found that the navy spent about US$3.7 billion modernising seven Ticonderoga-class cruisers from 2015 through FY2023. Four, including Vicksburg, were divested before completing the work or deploying.
“The navy wasted US$1.84 billion modernising four cruisers that have now been divested prior to deploying,” the GAO report stated.
The navy initially intended to modernise 11 cruisers and extend each ship's service life by five years. At the time of the review, only three were expected to complete the work, and none were expected to receive the full five-year extension.
The review attributed cost growth and delays partly to ineffective planning and oversight. It identified about 9,000 contract changes and found that changes to inspection procedures in 2020 nearly halved the number of inspections.
Navy leadership also required maintenance officials to secure senior approval before imposing monetary penalties.
The navy concurred with the GAO's six recommendations, including addressing the causes of unplanned work and reassessing quality assurance.
USS Gettysburg, USS Chosin and USS Cape St. George were also selected for service-life extensions.
The navy planned to keep the three modernised cruisers in service past their expected lifespans, adding a cumulative 10 ship-years from FY2026 to 2029
Vicksburg was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding and was commissioned in 1992. She completed numerous deployments from 1994 to 2015.
