The aging cruiser USS Cape St. George has moved to San Diego to help escort aircraft carriers to and from the Indo-Pacific and Middle East. But there are questions about whether the Cold War-era ship has a future — even with its recent $601 million overhaul.
Over the past four years, the ship was outfitted with the latest air defense system and the capacity to fire SM-6 missiles, some of the Navy’s most powerful weapons. Now it must undergo sea trials and, later, workups so that it can take on a crew of about 330.
The Navy hasn’t publicly said when the Cape St. George will be ready to deploy. But the ship is part of a deeply troubled $3.7 billion effort to modernize seven Ticonderoga-class cruisers and extend their service life by five years.
“Only three of the seven ships will complete modernization, and none will gain five years of service life, as intended,” the nonpartisan U.S. Government ability Office said in review released in December. “The Navy wasted $1.84 billion modernizing four cruisers that have been (inactivated) prior to deploying.”
The GAO mostly tied the problem to poor workmanship by contractors and poor planning by the Navy. Reviewers noted that one of the ships, the USS Gettysburg, completed modernization — but parts of its weapon systems didn’t work right, raising questions about it ability to do the job.
The Navy also found significant operational problems with another “Tico” cruisers, the USS Vicksburg, while it was undergoing sea trails, the GAO said.
That’s raised questions about the entire modernization program, and at a crucial moment. The Trump istration is considering taking all cruisers out of service in the near future to save money to build more modern warships.
