A US Navy warship designed to fight pirates and to combat terrorist activity visited Bermuda last week.

USS Sioux City, a Freedom class “littoral combat ship”, was in St George’s for rest and relaxation. She has been used for anti-drug activities and helped to seize $20 million worth of cocaine in the Caribbean in 2018.

But the ship and several other Freedom Class ships may be mothballed after the US defence budget proposed in March that they should be decommissioned.

The ships, designed in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001 are not considered suitable to take on the navies of Russia or China and they have also experienced technical problems. All are less than 10 years old.