The ships can travel 2, 000 miles in less than 48 hours, twice the speedof the Pentagon's regular cargo ships, and carry enough equipment to support about 5, 000 soldiers.
The proposed plan would retire seven cruisers early, delay construction of the next large-deck amphibious warfare ship by one year, cancel the second Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) in 2014, delay construction of two smaller amphibious warfare ships, and reduce procurement of littoral combat ships by two and joint high speed vessels by eight.