The frigate Taylor departs Mayport, Fla., on Jan. 8 on what's to be it's final seven-month deployment. It ran aground in Turkey a month later. The last frigate in the fleet was to inactivate in 2020. Now the Navy plans to purge all frigates before 2016. (MC2 Marcus L. Stanley/Navy)
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The steady decline of the fleet’s frigate force is being stepped up, and it’s looking like the last ship, previously scheduled to inactivate in 2020, will leave service by the end of 2015.
Twelve frigates already have been programmed for decommissioning in 2014 and 2015. Now, sources said, the Kaufman and Rodney M. Davis, previously slated to inactivate in 2017, and Ingraham, in 2020, will be gone before 2016.
The decisions are expected to be revealed when the new 30-year shipbuilding plan is sent to Congress sometime in the next few weeks.
Among other changes, the attack submarine La Jolla could be converted to become a moored training ship, and the fast replenishment ship Rainier will leave service in 2015.