USS Wichita Survives a Fight With the Navy that Could Have Sent It into Early Retirement

The USS Wichita has been saved from retirement.

The 3-year-old ship had been slated to be decommissioned along with other similar ships because of mechanical issues in some ships and what the Navy called a lack of fighting capability.

Nine of the littoral combat ships had been slated for decommissioning by the Navy. But a budget compromise in the Senate Armed Services Committee now is expected to save five, including the USS Wichita.

“These ships still have the capabilities to be utilized for many more years, and I support the committee’s decision to prevent the USS Wichita and other combat ships like it from being prematurely decommissioned,” Republican Sen. Jerry Moran said in an emailed statement to the Wichita Eagle.

Littoral combat ships are built for shallow water missions where larger warships can’t go.