The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers have been a bedrock of the U.S. Navy’s surface fleet since their inception in the early 1980s. With the Aegis Combat System and AN/SPY-1 radar, these ships represented the zenith of Cold War naval capability, shouldering the responsibility of defending carrier battle groups and ensuring America’s maritime dominance.

However, time has caught up with these storied vessels. The initial five ships of the class, including the lead ship USS Ticonderoga, have already been decommissioned and scrapped due to obsolescence, and more are following suit as the Navy transitions to more advanced platforms.

The decommissioning of USS Lake Champlain (CG-57) in early September marked a further reduction in the fleet’s strength, with only 15 of the original 27 ships remaining in service. The Navy Pacific Fleet indicated that this move was in line with “department-wide business process reform initiatives to free up time, resources, and manpower in support of increased lethality.”

This sentiment was echoed in the Navy’s plan revealed in April 2022, which aims to retire all remaining Ticonderoga-class cruisers by 2027. The report highlighted that the “substantial cost of repairing the poor material condition of these ships due to their age… outweighs the potential warfighting contributions of these platforms over their limited remaining service life.”

The Navy faces a challenging transition period as it seeks to replace the aging cruisers with the new Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, which promise greater sensor and air defense capabilities. Indeed, on September 7, 2023, the Department of Defense committed a whopping $14.5 billion to the construction of these next-generation destroyers.

The Ticonderoga-class cruisers, displacing around 9,800 tons at full load, have long formed the backbone of the U.S. Navy’s air defense and land attack capabilities.

Their impressive suite of missile systems, including the Mk 41 vertical launch system capable of firing a variety of missiles such as Tomahawk, Standard surface-to-air, Evolved Sea Sparrow, and ASROC antisubmarine warfare guided rockets, will be difficult to replace.

Despite the intent to phase out the cruisers, the debate between the Navy and Congress has been heated. Some lawmakers have been critical of decommissioning cruisers in the face of rising powers.

Representative Elaine Luria (D-Va.), a former executive officer of the cruiser Anzio, argued, “It’s a ship that we have, and the cost of modernizing and upgrading it for extending its service life 10 or so years is significantly lower than building a new ship.”

The Navy’s current replacement plan involves the Flight III Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, with the first, Jack Lucas (DDG-125), set to commission next year.

However, these destroyers will be commissioned at a rate that doesn’t match the speed at which cruisers are being decommissioned, potentially leaving a gap in capabilities.

The Navy’s past attempts at a next-generation cruiser, CG(X), were abandoned due to cost, while the cruiser modernization program, which was intended to extend the service life of these ships, has yet to return any of them to active service. In fact, cruisers such as Anzio are already scheduled for decommissioning this year.

Vice Adm. Scott Conn, deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities, expressed a “get real” perspective, recognizing that continued investment in the aging fleet may not yield the necessary return in warfighting capability. This acknowledgement, however, has not lessened the complexity of decisions surrounding the cruisers and their successors.

The saga of the Ticonderoga-class cruisers is not just a tale of ships but also a narrative of strategic planning, capability assessment, and the difficult choices of modern military procurement.

As the sun sets on this era of naval power, the dawn of the Flight III destroyers presents a new chapter in U.S. maritime defense, with implications for the global balance of power and the future conduct of naval warfare.

Relevant articles:
– Ticonderoga-Class Cruisers: A Deep Dive into the US Navy’s Powerhouse, The National Interest
– US Navy’s Tico fleet nears 50% strength as USS Lake Champlain departs, naval-technology.com
– After a Decade of Debate, Cruisers Set to Exit Fleet in 5 Years, USNI News