Three Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers will remain in the fleet past their planned service lives, the Navy announced Monday.
USS Cape St. George (CG-71), USS Gettysburg (CG-64) and USS Chosin (CG-65) will each get extended, according to a statement form Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro.
“This decision adds 10 years of cumulative ship service life from fiscal year 2026 to 2029,” the Navy said in the announcement.
All three cruisers were part of a modernization program that upgraded the hull, mechanical and engineering equipment to extend the ships’ service lives.
“USS Gettysburg (CG-64) and USS Chosin (CG-65) completed modernization in fiscal year 2023 and fiscal year 2024, respectively,” according to the Navy. “USS Cape St. George (CG-71) is on schedule to complete modernization this fiscal year.”
Gettysburg is currently deployed with the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, while Chosin is preparing to deploy. Cape St. George is still at BAE Systems in Norfolk, Va., for the modernization overhaul.
These are the only three cruisers to successfully make it out of the Ticonderoga-class modernization program that started in the 2010s. Originally, the Navy wanted to keep 11 of the 22 cruisers operating into the 2030s. The Navy took seven cruisers out of active service and gave them skeleton crews so they could receive overhauls that would put them back into service when the rest of the cruisers retired from the fleet. But the program faced numerous hurdles and the Navy over the last few years has sought to retire most of the ships in the class.
The Navy decommissioned USS Vicksburg (CG-69) at the end of June and USS Cowpens (CG-63) at the end of August. Both ships went through the cruiser modernization program.
“After learning hard lessons from the cruiser modernization program, we are only extending ships that have completed modernization and have the material readiness needed to continue advancing our Navy’s mission,” Del Toro said in a statement about the cruiser extensions.
In recent years, the Navy planned to decommission all of the cruisers by Fiscal Year 2027. In September, the service decommissioned USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55) and USS Antietam (CG-54). But the extensions announced Monday takes the Ticonderoga class beyond that date.
The Monday announcement about the cruisers comes after the Navy on Friday said it would extend the lives of 12 Flight I Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers.
