Two US counter-mine ships based in the Middle East are now in Singapore, Navy says

A pair of U.S. Navy counter-mine vessels which are homeported in Bahrain arrived in Singapore this week, in line with a U.S. Fifth Fleet spokesperson.

The Independence-class littoral fight ships USS Santa Barbara and USS Tulsa entered the U.S. Seventh Fleet space of accountability earlier within the week, the spokesperson stated, stopping first in Malaysia for a port name.

Every ship is provided with a mine countermeasures mission bundle designed to detect and destroy naval mines.

“Tulsa and Santa Barbara are conducting scheduled upkeep and logistics cease in Singapore,” the spokesperson stated.

The 2 nations, in line with the spokesperson, have an settlement to permit littoral fight ships to function primarily from Singapore as a logistics and upkeep hub.

As of Monday, the united statesCanberra, the opposite Bahrain-based LCS with a mine countermeasures bundle, was within the Indian Ocean, elements of that are within the U.S. Fifth Fleet space of accountability.

The U.S. Navy beforehand deployed 4 Avenger-class mine countermeasures ships within the Center East, however they had been decommissioned in 2025 after every serving for over 30 years.

These minesweepers are manufactured from wooden and fiberglass and possess a nonmagnetic signature and low acoustic footprint that enables them to function inside and close to a mine zone.

The vessels used acoustic gadgets, electromagnetic instruments, cables and cutters to hunt, detonate and destroy over 1,000 mines off of Kuwait in the course of the Gulf Warfare.

Three Independence-class littoral fight ships with a mine countermeasures mission bundle changed these vessels in 2025.

The LCS with the MCM bundle is manufactured from aluminum and might solely function outdoors the mine menace zone.

These ships deploy unmanned floor and underwater autos, together with an connected Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawk helicopter, to determine and destroy mines.

The migration of the 2 littoral fight ships with the MCM bundle may very well be a strategic repositioning by the U.S. Navy, in line with Dr. Steven Wills, a navalist for the Middle for Maritime Technique and a U.S. Navy veteran who served aboard a mine countermeasures ship.

“I believe that was a need to only cut back the variety of targets,” Wills stated.

The LCS has a 57mm MK-110 gun system and a SeaRAM self-defense system, nevertheless it isn’t as defensively succesful as a destroyer, which wields a vertical launch system, in line with Wills.