(Radio Iowa-Sheila Brummer) The U-S-S Sioux City was decommissioned by the Navy during a ceremony Monday at a naval base in Florida. Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott recalls one of his most memorable days in office was the commissioning ceremony of the littoral combat ship in November of 2018. Scott estimates around one-and-a-half million dollars was spent on the celebration and scholarship program for the crew, with a large portion coming from Sioux City and surrounding areas. He says he thinks it’s a joke.

Scott says not only did the Navy waste 350 million dollars on a ship quickly pulled out of service, they won’t disclose why his community was allowed to invest monetarily and emotionally in the U-S-S Sioux City.

Scott says the Navy fleeced not only his community but all taxpayers.

Scott says the Navy has yet to respond to his concerns. A Navy spokesperson says no one was available for comment. Iowa Senator Joni Ernst , a Republican from Red Oak, serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee and said last month that the Navy knew this was going to happen as they did not want to build the ships. Ernst said the ships cost 50 million dollars a year to maintain, and some of the 13 ships in the class have develop cracks in their hulls, so no one wants them.