BUFFALO, N.Y. — With the setting sun at Mayport Naval Station near Jacksonville, Fla., the US Navy has now formally decommissioned the USS Little Rock LCS #9.
The ship had been in service with the Navy as a Littoral Class Warship since it was commissioned with a crowd attending the ceremony on a snowy, cold day on Dec. 16, 2017. It actually made history that day as it was the first ever Navy ship to be commissioned next to its namesake, which is the 1950s-era cruiser better known as the larger ship berthed at the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park on the Buffalo River.
The Navy and Congress decided to stop the use of this ship and some others in this class because they felt they were too expensive to operate. The LCS Freedom hull variant ships, produced by a Lockheed Martin subsidiary shipyard in Wisconsin, also had a somewhat checkered past as the transmission linkage for its propulsion system had major breakdown issues. In some cases LCS ships like the Little Rock had to be towed back to a Navy base after they broke down at sea.
The USS Little Rock also had an embarrassing situation as it got stuck in the St. Lawrence River winter ice for three months after it left Buffalo and was on its way to the Mayport Naval Station for sea duty.
The Navy reported that some repairs had been made, but the poor image lingered at the Pentagon.
Several Buffalo residents, including Maurice (Mo) Naylon III and Paul Marzello, President of the Buffalo and Erie County Naval and Military Park, actually traveled down to Florida to observe the decommissioning of the ship, which had proud ties to Buffalo.
Naylon served as chairman of the committee which organized that commissioning ceremony in Buffalo. The ship's crew back then attended various events in the Buffalo area.
Naylon spoke with 2 On Your Side while in Florida.
"So as sad as this is for this little saga to end much quicker than we expected, when Buffalo was asked to play an important role in the history of the United States Navy they saluted in spectacular fashion. And it really kind of bolsters our trip and puts a smile on my face as I'm with five of the gentlemen who worked so hard with me on the commissioning committee," Naylon said.
A Navy Public Affairs Officer says the ship will be sent to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for storage. Naval warfare journalist Chris Cavas expects that it could eventually be put up for sale to another country to serve as a warship in a "friendly foreign navy."
Cavas told 2 on Your Side he felt this was a mistake by the Navy because in his opinion the LCS Freedom Hull ships still had use as a part of the Navy fleet.