Defense contractors build to funded requirements. Proposal managers (for various reasons) overlook the common sense of things as not to put funding at risk.
It's not a contractor issue, it was just a dumb idea and they couldnt figure out what to do with them aside from them looking fancy
It's not their job. Their job is to fulfill what the military wants. It's up to the flag officers to not to morons which is apparently to much to ask for between now and the fact that these ships are being decommissioned less than 10 years after being commissioned. Didn't take a genius to see that these things were just a dumb oversized speed boat idea
If you go to the bottom of the list of coins to be released, you will find that they are listing a one ounce Air Force and a one ounce Coast Guard coins. They must have read our minds. I wonder if they are going to be made out of silver and charge up the wazoo.
"Charging up the wazoo" is mint policy now. You might get it for less in the secondary market in a few years contingent on lower bullion prices and a mintage beyond a few hundred. The young collectors can forget it. The current policy takes them to the cleaners. $40 for the current copper-nickel clad commemative half dollar is ridiculous. They used to be less than $10 in a nice kid oriented educational folder. You can't tell me it costs that much to make that coin!