The original ships were low-capability vessels useful for escort work. Making them lethal would be a job:
“With obsolete combat systems and aging hulls, these vessels would require significant upgrades to remain warfighting relevant for another decade,” the document reads. “Any potential return on investment would be offset by high reactivation and life-cycle costs, a small ship inventory, limited service life, and substantial capability gaps."
Just getting them seaworthy would be a job.
If we spend money on refurbishing them I'd rather experiment with the hulls by trying out different configurations as armed assault transports designed to carry, land, and provide fire support for a Marine company-sized element.
Experience in these modern APDs (we converted old destroyers and destroyer escorts to APDs and used a lot in World War II) would help the Navy and Marines decide if distributed Marine operations justify custom-built ships to move away from the MEU (battalion task force)-carrying amphibious ships we rely on to land Marines and move toward company-sized raiders who can be massed from converging locations when needed for a large landing mission.
