Key Points and Summary – An analysis of the five worst ships in U.S. Navy history reveals a pattern of design flaws, conceptual mistakes, and tragic failures.
-The list includes the USS Massachusetts, a battleship whose own guns made it tip over; the USS Wasp, a poorly armored carrier that sank in minutes; the USS Belknap, a cruiser whose aluminum superstructure melted in a fire; the modern Littoral Combat Ship, a costly and unreliable vessel plagued with issues; and the USS Thresher, the first nuclear submarine to be lost with all hands.
Two F-35C Lightning II carrier variant joint strike fighters conduct the first catapult launches aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68). The F-35 Lightning II Pax River Integrated Test Force from Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 is conducting initial at-sea trials aboard Nimitz. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Lockheed Martin by Dane Wiedmann/Released)
-These ships serve as cautionary tales in naval design and procurement.
The 5 Worst US Navy Ships
These were ships the US Navy had high hopes for, but they were some of the worst ever built. They didn’t work as designed. The vessels became obsolete right after construction. They were expensive and shoddily built.
Zumwalt-class Guided Missile Destroyer USS Michael Monsoor (DDG 1001) transits the Pacific Ocean, June 25, 2022. Twenty-six nations, 38 ships, four submarines, more than 170 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are participating in RIMPAC from June 29 to Aug 4 in and around Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The world’s largest international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a unique training opportunity while fostering and sustaining cooperative relationships among participants critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans. RIMPAC 2022 is the 28th exercise in the series that began in 1971.
They endured costly delays and became mired in the bureaucratic morass. Some even crashed with deadly consequences or sank with all hands on board. Let’s take a closer look at the worst US Navy ships ever built.
The USS Massachusetts
The first on our list is the USS Massachusetts battleship. This vessel launched to great fanfare in 1896. Fifteen thousand people watched it hit the water for the first time. However, the ship soon became obsolete. Five years later, it was retired.
At the time, the Massachusetts had the biggest guns in the world. Each weighed an impossible 136,000 pounds. The shells weighed 1,130 pounds. This imbalance led to a significant and almost comical problem. When sailors rotated the gun, the first one to fire caused the other side of the ship to list to one side, rendering combat ineffective because some of the smaller armaments would go underwater.
Additionally, the Massachusetts class of 35 battleships would have cost around $300 million, equivalent to $6 billion in today’s money. The Navy needed the funds to outfit the Massachusetts with as many guns as possible, sticking out at every angle.
All those arms weighed over one million pounds. There had to be immense room for all the coal to fire the engines. Then the ammunition weighed tens of thousands of pounds. Additionally, the Massachusetts lacked a bilge keel, which would have prevented it from listing. This battleship was a colossal failure and never saw combat.
The USS Wasp
The USS Wasp aircraft carrier was commissioned in 1940 under the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty, which constrained its size, armor, and survivability. The Wasp was smaller than the Essex-class of carriers and would prove to be susceptible to torpedoes. This weakness indeed sealed its fate as three torpedoes from a Japanese submarine sank it off the coast of Guadalcanal in 1942.
USS Wasp. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Fires engulfed the ship, killing 193 sailors. The Wasp had poor fire-fighting systems due to the treaty. There was hardly any water pressure, and the men on board were doomed in an inferno. The Wasp could have survived the torpedo strikes, but the fires did it in.
This carrier had another unlucky incident. During a shakedown cruise in 1942 along America’s east coast, the Wasp collided with a Navy destroyer—the USS Stack—in poor weather. The Wasp had only four inches of armor, and it was a wonder that it did not sink after the crash. It will go down as an unsuccessful carrier.
The USS Belknap
The USS Belknap was a guided-missile cruiser that had many wondering if it was jinxed during its service. In 1975, it collided with the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier in one of the worst crashes of all time.
Both ships were operating in the Ionian Sea, north of the Mediterranean, off the southern coast of Italy. The wreck caused a burst pipe on the Belknap, sending fuel all over the ship. This caused a massive fire that even melted the ship’s aluminum superstructure. This blaze killed eight sailors and injured another 48 people.
The Navy reckoned the unlucky ship’s use of aluminum was insufficient for modern warfare and decided to use an all-steel build for the Arleigh Burke-class of destroyers. The Navy spent four years refurbishing the Belknap, but the ship was finally sunk in friendly-fire target practice in 1998.
The Littoral Combat Ship or LCS
The LCS, derisively nicknamed the “little crappy ship,” was one of the worst mistakes the Navy ever made. It was designed after 9/11, when the maritime branch thought that small counter-insurgency wars necessitated a vessel that could patrol close to shore. It could even be used for counter-piracy and counter-narcotics missions, as well as clearing sea mines and combating submarines.
Littoral Combat Ship. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The LCS had a high speed, too, which would allow it to sail in deeper water when met with overwhelming force near the coast.
Cost overruns were terrible. Each LCS was initially budgeted to cost $220 million per vessel, but the expenses soon ballooned to over $500 million per ship. Engine failures and difficulty switching from gas turbine to diesel power occurred due to an ineffective combining gear.
The aluminum trimaran hull had problems with corrosion and structural issues. There were failed weapons systems. Maintenance was delayed, resulting in many LCS vessels being taken out of action. These ships were simply unreliable. Training sailors on the new systems on the LCS was also lengthy and expensive.
The USS Thresher
The USS Thresher was the first nuclear-powered submarine to sink. The Thresher began sea trials in 1961. It was quiet and fast. The Thresher featured an innovative new sonar system that made it unique for its time.
Sturgeon-class. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The torpedo tubes were top-notch and could fire the latest in anti-submarine and anti-ship torpedoes. The Navy was so confident in the Thresher that the crew’s wives, parents, and children once went on a “happy cruise.”
However, issues began to arise. The central ballast tank blow system was not tested correctly and caused problems. Fast cruise mode did not work well. Some thought that construction was too hurried.
MORE: The Truth About the F-35
Civilian construction workers had to accompany the sailors on shakedown cruises, which did not inspire much confidence in naval personnel. There was a faulty joint in a seawater pipe that may have been the cause of the sinking. There was also a lack of a central safety system that might have prevented the tragedy.
The sinking in 1963 killed all 129 sailors on board.
About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for US Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former US Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
More Military
We Almost Touched the F-117 Stealth Fighter
MrC
July 24, 2025 at 4:35 pm
We need to focus on Hypersonic air to air & air to ground , long distance , carried by bomber , fighters , ships and ground forces. Capable of reaching Mach 6 , self guided, release and forget, ( 3 modes of tracking, 2 stages ) cheap to produce and maintain low cost , production in the 10,000 units / multiple proximity fuse , Rain terror on every target
Osnel
July 24, 2025 at 7:21 pm
Sorry but this article is stupid.