USS Milwaukee (LCS-5)

USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy.[7] She is the fifth ship to be named for the city of Milwaukee,[8] the largest city in Wisconsin. She was laid down on 27 October 2011 at Marinette Marine, Marinette, Wisconsin; launched on 18 December 2013; sponsored by Mrs. Sylvia M. Panetta, wife of Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta;[9] and commissioned on 21 November 2015.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Milwaukee.

USS Milwaukee (LCS-5)
Milwaukee off Naval Station Mayport in February 2016
History
United States
Name: Milwaukee
Namesake: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Awarded: 29 December 2010[1]
Builder: Marinette Marine, Marinette, Wisconsin[1]
Laid down: 27 October 2011[2]
Launched: 18 December 2013[3]
Sponsored by: Sylvia M. Panetta
Christened: 18 December 2013
Acquired: 16 October 2015[4]
Commissioned: 21 November 2015
Homeport: Naval Station Mayport
Identification: MMSI number: 369970707
Status: in active service
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: Freedom-class littoral combat ship
Displacement: 3,500 metric tons (3,900 short tons) full load[5]
Length: 378.3 ft (115.3 m)[1]
Beam:
  • 43 ft (13 m) wl
  • 57.4 ft (17.5 m) (extreme)[1]
Draft:
  • 13 ft (4.0 m) (navigational)[1]
  • 14 ft (4.3 m) (draft limit)
Installed power:
Propulsion: 4 × Rolls-Royce waterjets
Speed: 45 knots (52 mph; 83 km/h) (sea state 3)
Range: 3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h)[6]
Endurance: 21 days (336 hours)
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 11 m RHIB, 40 ft (12 m) high-speed boats
Complement: 50 core crew, 75 with mission crew (Crews rotate through hulls)
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • EADS TRS-3D C-band radar
  • X-Band Navigational Radar
  • S-Band Navigational Radar
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
  • WBR 2000
  • Super RBOCs
  • Nulka decoy launchers
Armament:
Aircraft carried:
Notes: Electrical power is provided by 4 Isotta Fraschini V1708 diesel engines with Hitzinger generator units rated at 800 kW each.

History

Over the 2015 Labor Day weekend holiday, it was reported that Milwaukee generated waves greater than five feet tall during test runs near Door County's Chambers Island which damaged more than 40 boats.[10] Milwaukee was still in the custody of Marinette Marine at the time of the incident and was conducting pre-commissioning acceptance trials. In June 2016, the Coast Guard announced that their investigation was complete and that no enforcement action would be taken against any of the parties involved.[11]

Milwaukee completed her acceptance trials prior to 1 November 2015[12] and was commissioned in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 21 November 2015.[13] She has improved systems as well as mission modules compared to USS Freedom and USS Independence, the first two Littoral Combat Ships. Her keel was laid down on 27 October 2011. Lockheed VP Joe North has said that starting with Milwaukee, the Lockheed LCS design is "done, locked and stable".[14] This is after thirty or so changes from USS Fort Worth on top of hundreds of changes from USS Freedom.[15] One of the improvements for Milwaukee is specially designed waterjets that replace the commercial versions used on previous Littoral Combat Ships.[16]

On 11 December 2015, on its way to San Diego from Halifax, Nova Scotia, the vessel experienced a "complete loss of propulsion" and was towed to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Virginia.[17]

On 23 February 2016, CNN reported an update on the status of Milwaukee. In that update Navy Lt. Rebecca Haggard stated that Milwaukee "is designed to operate with gas turbine and diesel engines, which can operate in tandem or independently, In the case of Milwaukee, when switching from one system to the other, a clutch failed to disengage as designed. Instead, the clutch remained spinning and some of the clutch gears were damaged." Lt. Haggard also stated that quick action by the crew prevented more serious problems and the damaged clutch was repaired in Virginia.[18]

On 30 December 2016, Milwaukee participated in a homeport shift ceremony that took place at Naval Station Mayport. The ship was previously based out of Naval Base San Diego.[19] She is assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two.

  • USS Milwaukee is featured in the book Tom Clancy's Op-Center: Into the Fire.[20]

References
  1. "USS Milwaukee (LCS-5)". Naval Vessel Register. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  2. "Lockheed Martin Team Lays Keel on Nation's Fifth Littoral Combat Ship, the Future USS Milwaukee" (Press release). Lockheed Martin. 27 October 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
  3. "Lockheed Martin-Led Team Launches Future USS Milwaukee" (Press release). Lockheed Martin. 28 December 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  4. "Navy Accepts Delivery of Future USS Milwaukee (LCS 5)" (Press release). United States Navy. 16 October 2015. NNS151016-18. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
  5. "Littoral Combat Ship Class – LCS". America's Navy. US Navy. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  6. "LCS Littoral Combat Ship". Archived from the original on 8 August 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
  7. "Marinette Marine receives $376M Navy contract". The Business Journal. 18 March 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  8. Mabus, Ray (18 March 2011). "Announcement of LCS 5 and LCS 7 Names" (PDF). Marinette, Wisconsin: United States Navy. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  9. Evans, Mark L. (10 August 2015). "Milwaukee V (LCS-5)". Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  10. Hay, Andrea (8 September 2015). "Naval ship damages more than 40 boats over Labor Day weekend". wbay.com. Archived from the original on 9 September 2015.
  11. "Coast Guard completes USS Milwaukee commercial vessel investigation". uscgnews.com. 3 June 2016. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016.
  12. "The Future USS MILWAUKEE". Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  13. "USS Milwaukee (LC5) Commissioning". Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  14. Ewing, Philip (10 January 2012). "SNA: LM's LCS enters its 'cookie cutter' phase". DoD Buzz. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  15. Fabey, Michael (30 November 2012). "Redeeming Freedom: U.S. Navy Seeks to Renew Faith in LCS Fleet". Aviation Week. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  16. "New Waterjets Could Propel Littoral Combat Ship to Greater Speeds". Science Daily. 5 February 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  17. Larter D (12 December 2015). "The Navy's newest ship breaks down, limps into port". Navy Times. Retrieved 12 December 2015.
  18. Lendon, Brad (23 February 2016). "Damaged clutch shut down new Navy warship". CNN. Retrieved 24 February 2016.
  19. Daraskevich J (30 December 2016). "Mayport Officials Welcome 2 New Littoral Combat Ships". Florida Times Union. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
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