Why has the Navy spent at least $175M on an old ship that may never return to sea?

Damned if they do, damned if the don't.

Congress won't let the navy decommission old ships, but that same congress complains that the navy has old ships that cost money (money that congress gave the Navy to spend in their districts but no one wants to mention that)

By the way, when the navy "sells" a ship for scrap, it often costs money -- it doesn't make money.

We do need more ships -- but we need them in operational condition -- and we need crews for them (but we can't even crew the ships we do have within the authorized end-strength).

Modern technology advances much faster than ships wear out. Often a perfectly seaworthy ship is good enough for naval warfare simply because it's technology is outdated. Should we keep it "just in case"? Should we "modernize" it? Should we scrap it and build a new one?