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

Three flagship surface-ship programs of the twenty-first century have failed: Littoral Combat Ship, Zumwalt, and Constellation-Class. In May, the Navy commissioned the final Littoral Combat Ship, USS Cleveland, ending a program begun in 2008 that promised affordable, modular ships. The LCS ultimately cost about 500-600 million per hull, more than double the Navy’s 220-million target.

Concurrently, the Constellation-class frigate lead ship was canceled with roughly 12% built, and the Zumwalt destroyer saw its guns removed because shells were unaffordable. The trio’s failures prompt a sobering question: can the United States still design and field a new class of warships, or has the era of affordable, adaptable surface combatants ended?