Latest Breaking News

The US Navy decommissioned Middle East minesweepers last year. Here’s what they did.

By Riley Ceder Thursday, Mar 12, 2026


The U.S. Navy decommissioned half of its Avenger-class mine countermeasure ships last year and began replacing them with littoral combat ships that possess anti-mine capabilities.

(snip)

“The [littoral combat ship] MCM mission package is a sophisticated suite of manned and unmanned systems designed to locate, identify, and neutralize sea mines, at a safer distance from minefields than the Avenger-class MCMs,” a Navy official told Military Times on the condition of anonymity.

Independence-class littoral combat ships equipped with the mine countermeasures mission package began arriving in the U.S. Fifth Fleet last year to replace the decommissioned minesweepers in Bahrain.

The USS Canberra was the first LCS with the MCM package to arrive in the Middle East on May 22 (Ed. 2025). The USS Santa Barbara and USS Tulsa, two other littoral combat ships with the MCM package, were also stationed in the U.S. Fifth Fleet as of Sept. 25, 2025, with a yet-to-be-named fourth LCS on its way, according to USNI News.