Congress Hates On the Navy’s Tiniest Warships

The U.S. Navy’s 13 Cyclone-class patrol boats are 179 feet long, pack two 25-millimeter cannons plus machine guns, grenade launchers and two quadruple mounts for short-range Griffin anti-ship missiles.

Displacing just 330 tons, the Cyclones are arguably the most heavily-armed American warships relative to their size. But for all that firepower, the U.S. Congress refuses to include the patrol boats in the official count of deployable, battle-force vessels.

Congress’ decision to delist the Cyclones— which the legislative body codified in the 2015 military funding bill — is the latest blow in a bureaucratic battle over ship-counting that pits lawmakers versus the Navy.

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