USS Tulsa (LCS 16)

USS TULSA is the eighth INDEPENDENCE - class Littoral Combat Ship and the third ship in the Navy named for the city in Oklahoma.

General Characteristics:	Awarded: December 29, 2010
	Keel laid: January 11, 2016
	Launched: March 16, 2017
	Commissioned: February 16, 2019
	Builder: Austal USA, Mobile, Ala.
	Propulsion system: two LM2500 gas turbine engines, two diesel engines, four waterjets
	Length: 418 feet (127.5 meters)
	Beam: 104 feet (31.5 meters)
	Draft: 13 feet (4 meters)
	Displacement: approx. 3,104 tons full load
	Speed: 47 knots
	Armament: one Mk-110 57mm gun, one SeaRAM CIWS
	Aircraft: two MH-60 helicopters
	Homeport: San Diego, Calif.
	Crew: 8 officers, 32 enlisted

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS TULSA. 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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USS TULSA History:

USS TULSA is an INDEPENDENCE-variant littoral combat ship constructed by Austal USA at Mobile, Alabama. The Navy laid her keel on January 11, 2016, at Austal's Mobile yard, with former Tulsa mayor Kathy Taylor authenticating the keel as ship's sponsor. She was christened at Mobile on February 11, 2017, and launched on March 16, 2017, beginning outfitting and systems activation for trials. After builder's workups in the Gulf of Mexico, she completed U.S. Navy acceptance trials on March 8-9, 2018, demonstrating propulsion, ship-handling, and combat systems to the Board of Inspection and Survey. The Navy accepted delivery during a ceremony in Mobile on April 30, 2018, marking the formal transfer from the shipbuilder and the start of pre-commissioning preparations.

In the autumn of 2018, the pre-commissioning unit got underway from the Gulf Coast for the Pacific, arriving at Naval Base San Diego on November 21, 2018, to stage for commissioning and to begin West Coast familiarization. The commissioning took place at San Francisco's Embarcadero, Pier 30/32, on February 16, 2019, in a 10:00 a.m. ceremony that brought the ship formally into service under Littoral Combat Ship Squadron ONE. Following post-commissioning events, TULSA shifted south to San Diego to commence the typical new-hull sequence of post-delivery maintenance, Combat Systems Ship Qualification Trials, crew certifications, and local operations in Commander, U.S. Third Fleet waters.

Through 2019 and 2020, TULSA remained San Diego-based while completing post-shakedown availability and building toward her first extended deployment. Her crews rotated through the LCS Blue/Gold manning construct as the ship executed local underway periods for aviation deck operations, live-fire events with the Mk 110 57-mm gun and SeaRAM, and integrated events that prepared the platform for Pacific employment. These cycles set the conditions for forward deployment to the Western and Central Pacific under Commander, Destroyer Squadron SEVEN.

By the spring of 2021, TULSA had entered a rotational deployment to the U.S. 7th Fleet. With a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment embarked, she conducted boardings on April 29 and May 3, 2021, in support of the Oceania Maritime Security Initiative, inspecting foreign-flagged fishing vessels to bolster maritime domain awareness and regional fisheries enforcement across the Western Pacific. In late August 2021, the ship moored at Changi Naval Base, Singapore, where she hosted a high-profile visit by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on August 23, 2021, underscoring Singapore's long-standing role as a logistics and maintenance hub for deployed LCS. In the autumn she continued presence operations and multinational training: on October 18, 2021, TULSA and her sister ship JACKSON (LCS 6) maneuvered with the German frigate FGS BAYERN (F 217) in the Philippine Sea. Subsequently, while moored at Naval Base Guam on October 18 and again on October 21, TULSA hosted BAYERN sailors for ship tours, a visible symbol of U.S.-German coordination during BAYERN's Indo-Pacific cruise. At the end of November 2021, the ship shifted to the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea to support regional exercises. She arrived Lumut, Malaysia, on November 30, 2021, in connection with Maritime Training Activity (MTA) Malaysia 2021, where TULSA worked with Royal Malaysian Navy units and U.S. maritime patrol aircraft on communications, maneuvering, and flight-operations deconfliction. In parallel, U.S. Navy releases recorded TULSA's participation in the Japanese-led annual exercise ANNUALEX 2021 in the Philippine Sea, part of a broader series of drills with Canadian, German, Australian, and Japanese forces.

Deployed operations continued into 2022 with the ship operating from regional hubs at Guam and Singapore. A March 20, 2022, account highlighted Seventh Fleet sailors coordinating with the submarine tender EMORY S. LAND (AS 39) to carry out an expeditionary repair aboard TULSA while forward, demonstrating the support model that keeps LCS on station. In early May 2022, Navy releases noted LCS units returning to Changi Naval Base as part of the rotational presence. During this period, TULSA executed multi-domain mine warfare training with an embarked helicopter detachment, hosted theater senior leaders, and maintained the logistics tempo typical of extended Pacific patrols. After two on-hull patrols across 2021 and 2022, TULSA's Blue Crew returned the ship to San Diego on July 30, 2022, concluding a 7th Fleet employment that blended OMSI law-enforcement support, bilateral and multilateral exercises, and repeated logistics stops at Guam and Singapore. In port, a Gold Crew change of command on July 29, 2022, and a Blue Crew change of command on August 5, 2022, reset the manning rotation ahead of the ship's next training and maintenance cycle.

Post-deployment, TULSA remained aligned under LCSRON ONE at San Diego, cycling through upkeep, certifications, and local underway periods while the class matured its Western Pacific rotational model. In 2025, administrative milestones included a Gold Crew change of command on August 22, 2025, at Naval Base San Diego.

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USS TULSA Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by Shiu On Yee on February 15, 2019, during a tour of the PCU TULSA at San Francisco's Pier 30. The TULSA was commissioned one day later on February 16, 2019.