Antietam, Leyte Gulf, San Jacinto, and Lake Champlain, in 2021 and 2022, instead of dry-docking them for life-extension maintenance updates, as a cost-saving measure. This would not technically be an "early retirement", as the ships would be at their originally planned 35-year life dates, but they would be able to serve longer with the upgrades. The proposal still needs the approval of Congress, which is usually hesitant to approve any actions that would reduce the size of the active combat fleet. In December 2021, the House approved a bill that would allow the Navy to retire only five Ticonderoga-class cruisers versus the Navy's request to retire seven. Proposed and Scheduled Retirements In December 2020, the U.S. Navy's Report to Congress on the Annual Long-Range Plan for Construction of Naval Vessels stated that the following ships were planned to be placed Out of Commission in Reserve: At this time, the proposed dates were: In July 2021, the Navy requested to retire seven cruisers in the Fiscal Year 2022, adding Lake Champlain (CG-57) to the six listed above. This request only included the Fiscal Year 2022 inactivations rather than the more common list for the next five years: The final budget passed in December 2021 prohibited the Navy from using any funds "to retire, prepare to retire, inactivate, or place in storage more than 5 guided missile cruisers." The budget did not specify which cruisers could be retired, and the Navy ultimately chose to retire Monterey (CG-61), Hué City (CG-66), Anzio (CG-68), Vella Gulf (CG-72), and Port Royal (CG-73). In April 2022, the Navy requested to retire all 17 remaining cruisers by the end of Fiscal Year 2027. The schedule was as follows: Both the House and Senate draft budgets explicitly forbid retiring Vicksburg by name, as the ship is nearing the end of a modernization as part of the Phased Modernization Program (also known as the 2-4-6 Program). The House budget prohibits the Navy from using any funds "to retire, prepare to retire, inactivate, or place in storage more than four guided missile cruisers." Until the final budget is passed, all retirement requests are pending. Replacement In their 2015 budget request, the Navy outlined a plan to operate eleven cruisers, while the other eleven were upgraded to a new standard. The upgraded cruisers would then start replacing the older ships, which would be retired starting in 2019. This would retain one