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USS Sioux City (LCS 11)

USS SIOUX CITY was the sixth FREEDOM - class Littoral Combat Ship and the first ship in the Navy named after the city of Sioux City in Iowa. Decommissioned at Mayport, Fla., on August 14, 2023 - after not even five years of service - the ship is now slated for a foreign military sale.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS SIOUX CITY. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

• Click here to view the list.

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• Click here to see which USS SIOUX CITY memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

The Shield:

The shield colors are those of the Iowa state flag. The three sections denote the Sioux City Tri-State Metropolitan Area, or “Siouxland,” as it is known locally. The Sioux chief depicted symbolizes the rich history of Sioux City and is similar to images displayed on the Badgerow Building in downtown Sioux City. War Eagle, the most celebrated chief of Sioux City, was presented a peace medal by President Martin Van Buren. The peace medal became War Eagle’s most prized possession and displayed a tomahawk crossed with a peace pipe, signifying War Eagle’s brave leadership and his love of peace.

The Crest:

The six stars denote LCS 11 as the sixth FREEDOM Variant ship of its class. The stars are colored red to symbolize the courage of the Sailors that crew USS SIOUX CITY. The compass rose represents the Lewis and Clark expedition and is colored green to symbolize the territory covered in the area now known as Sioux City. The flowing blue and white ribbon denotes Sioux City as the navigational head of the Missouri River.

The Supporters:

The Sergeant Floyd Monument, the United Sates first designated National Historic Landmark, is located on Floyd’s Bluff overlooking the Missouri River in Sioux City, and honors U.S. Army Sergeant Charles Floyd. Sergeant Floyd was the only man to perish on the Lewis and Clark Expedition and was buried near the monument’s location on August 20, 1804.

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USS SIOUX CITY History:

USS SIOUX CITY was built by Fincantieri Marinette Marine at Marinette, Wisconsin, as a FREEDOM-variant littoral combat ship. Keel was laid on February 19, 2014. After fitting out, the ship was christened and launched at Marinette on January 30, 2016, with Mary Winnefeld as sponsor. Acceptance trials on Lake Michigan ran May 20-24, 2018, and the Navy accepted delivery later that summer. In early November 2018, while conducting pre-commissioning movements and weather-delayed from Montreal, SIOUX CITY proceeded to Annapolis, arriving on November 12, 2018. She was commissioned at the U.S. Naval Academy on November 17, 2018, then shifted to her designated homeport at Naval Station Mayport. By November 21, 2018 she had made her first arrival as a commissioned unit of LCSRON TWO.

In 2019, the ship completed shakedown, post-delivery workups and early fleet integration from Mayport. In April 2019, she underwent mine-susceptibility signature trials to establish as-built acoustic and electromagnetic baselines and validate modeling with the Advanced Mine Simulator System - part of the Navy's technical certification of the FREEDOM-variant for mine countermeasure risk assessment. For overall readiness across engineering, combat systems, navigation, communications and command excellence, SIOUX CITY's crew earned the 2019 Battle Efficiency ("Battle E") award (COMNAVSURFLANT category).

SIOUX CITY executed her first deployment to U.S. 4th Fleet from August 30, 2020 to December 4, 2020. With HSC-22 Detachment 6 embarked and a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET 104), she conducted enhanced counter-narcotics operations across the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific in support of U.S. Southern Command and JIATF South. Interdiction activity disrupted approximately 2,120 kilograms of cocaine. The ship also executed a medical evacuation from a distressed tanker and supported Hurricane Iota relief to Central America by collecting and delivering more than 36,000 pounds of aid to Honduras. During the deployment, SIOUX CITY conducted a multilateral PASSEX with HMS MEDWAY and Jamaican Coast Guard cutter HMJS NANNY OF THE MAROONS, steamed roughly 14,000 nautical miles, visited six ports, and conducted 304 aircraft launch/recovery evolutions before returning to Mayport.

After post-deployment maintenance and training, SIOUX CITY (Blue Crew with HSC-22 Detachment 3) deployed again to 4th Fleet on March 31, 2021, returning July 30, 2021. The ship took part in five bilateral exercises and seven at-sea engagements - working with Jamaica, France and the Dominican Republic to build maritime-security capacity - and completed five refuelings at sea and 18 foreign object debris walkdowns, while steaming over 16,000 nautical miles. The 2021 deployment also marked the first period with three FREEDOM-variant LCS concurrently deployed and operating together (SIOUX CITY with USS WICHITA (LCS 13) and USS BILLINGS (LCS 15)). On September 19-20, 2021, while still supporting 4th Fleet counter-drug missions with the Coast Guard, SIOUX CITY and her embarked LEDET seized approximately 970 kilograms of cocaine from two separate go-fast vessels.

SIOUX CITY executed a short "holiday" Southern Command patrol later in 2021 and was back in Mayport by December 17, 2021. During that period she visited four ports, including a call at San Juan, Puerto Rico - reported as the first visit to San Juan by a commissioned LCS - before returning home for the holidays.

On April 25, 2022 the Blue Crew and HSC-22 Detachment 2 departed Mayport for a transatlantic deployment that became the ship's signature operational period, spanning U.S. 6th and 5th Fleets and making SIOUX CITY the first LCS to operate in several key seas. In May 2022, she operated in the Mediterranean and conducted a proof-of-concept preventive maintenance availability (PMAV) at NSA Souda Bay, Greece, validating Forward-Deployed Regional Maintenance Center support for LCS in Europe. Late in May, she transited the Suez Canal to U.S. 5th Fleet, integrating with the newly formed Combined Task Force 153 for Red Sea, Bab-el-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden maritime security. In theater, she operated alongside the HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN 75) Carrier Strike Group, conducted evolutions with two Egyptian Navy units, worked with Italian Navy patrol vessel VEGA (P 404), and coordinated with a German Navy P-3C. On June 25, 2022 she entered NSA Bahrain following a Strait of Hormuz transit escorted with USS THUNDERBOLT (PC 12) and four U.S. Coast Guard cutters for another PMAV before resuming regional operations. After 39 days in 5th Fleet, SIOUX CITY returned to 6th Fleet waters, ultimately heading north and completing a PMAV at Fredericia, Denmark on August 24, 2022 - the first LCS maintenance period in the Baltic region - while also making stops at Augusta Bay (Italy), Rota (Spain) and Zeebrugge (Belgium) en route. She concluded the deployment by returning to Mayport on October 2, 2022, having steamed about 27,000 nautical miles, visited 16 ports, and flown more than 350 SAR-capable hours with numerous VBSS evolutions.

With the Navy's shift in force-structure priorities for the LCS community, SIOUX CITY was selected for early retirement shortly after her return. She decommissioned at Naval Station Mayport on August 14, 2023, with sponsor Mary Winnefeld in attendance. Upon decommissioning, the ship was placed in Foreign Military Sales (FMS) disposition status pending any transfer decision, and her crew received follow-on orders.

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USS SIOUX CITY Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning on September 13, 2019, during an open ship event aboard USS SIOUX CITY (LCS 11) as part of the Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival at New London, Ct.

			Click here for more Photos.

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