House Appropriators Want Navy to Save 5 Littoral Combat Ships From Decommissioning - USNI News

House appropriators want the Navy to keep five Littoral Combat Ships but will allow the service to decommission four, according to text of the Fiscal Year 2023 defense spending bill.
The legislation, released today by the House Appropriations Committee, would complicate the Navy’s plans to decommission nine Freedom-class Littoral Combat Ships next year.

The bill “directs a report on alternate uses of these vessels, such as missions in the [U.S. Southern Command] and [U.S. Africa Command] areas of responsibility; and permits the decommissioning of four ships, which would also allow the Navy and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency to explore the possibility of transferring them to partner nations,” according to a summary from the committee.

Seeking to defend the Navy’s push to decommission the LCSs, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday last month proposed to lawmakers that the service evaluate transferring the ships to countries in South America.