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I'd say the U.S. Pegasus class PHM was a complete failure. Designed for a mission the USN really NEVER has a need for, and it cost a lot of money to boot.
I project that the LCS will be the biggest failure in the 21st century, so many things wrong with this ship, it could fill a book.
The OHP class is a GREAT design for its mission and cost, especially by Flight IV when it had Mk92 Mod 6 and LAMPS III with TACTASS. A great open ocean ASW platform for the time (it was NOT designed for coastal ASW, nothing in the world was quite frankly as CVs could project power far off shore where open ocean ASW was what was required...), it also had good capability against maritime patrol aircraft used to locate convoys and strike groups, without the need for CAP. Not a bad ASUW platform either. TERRIBLE staff embarkation ability, and not easy to maintain (recent HM&E improvements have helped markedly). Relatively cheap to operate too. Nothing wrong with the gun at all, much more reliable than the 5inch, and a MUCH better generall purpose gun (small boat, low slow air..)
The removal of the Mk13 was an example of a Navy cutting cost for the promise of great things in the future. Instead of maintaining a capable warship for its 30 year life, the Navy immasculated a perfectly good platform for about a third of its service life to pay for a "revolutionary" capability that STILL has not been proven to work, a shame. The Mk13 was perfectly capable of shooting SM-2 (as on USS California), could shoot much upgraded Harpoons in any quantity desired, and did NOT cost the much to maintain for the capability.
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The SWO
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