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USS Marinette (LCS 25)

USS MARINETTE is the 13th FREEDOM-variant hull, the 25th ship of the overall littoral combat ship program, and the first commissioned U.S. Navy warship named for the city of Marinette, Wisconsin, where she was built.

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Crew List:

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

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USS MARINETTE History:

USS MARINETTE is a FREEDOM-variant littoral combat ship designed for high-speed, shallow-draft operations with modular mission packages for surface warfare, mine countermeasures and anti-submarine warfare. She is the thirteenth FREEDOM-variant hull, the twenty-fifth ship of the overall littoral combat ship program, and the first commissioned U.S. Navy warship named for the city of Marinette, Wisconsin, where she was built. Her construction was part of the later phase of the FREEDOM program, after the Navy had already begun addressing propulsion and reliability issues seen in earlier ships of the class.

LCS 25 was authorized on March 31, 2016, to be built at Fincantieri Marinette Marine on the Menominee River in Marinette. On September 22, 2016, the Secretary of the Navy announced that the ship would be named USS MARINETTE to honor the city's long association with naval shipbuilding, including World War II landing ships and Cold War auxiliary craft. Detailed design and module fabrication proceeded at Marinette Marine, and hull blocks were assembled on the yard's construction ways.

On March 27, 2019, the Navy held the keel-laying and authentication ceremony at Marinette. Ship sponsor Jennifer Granholm authenticated the keel by having her initials welded into a plate that would become part of the structure, in accordance with naval tradition. Structural assembly and outfitting continued through 2019 and 2020. On October 31, 2020, MARINETTE was launched into the Menominee River, moving from the building ways into the water to begin her full fitting-out phase alongside the pier.

The ship was formally christened on November 20, 2021, at the Marinette yard. Jennifer Granholm, by then serving as U.S. Secretary of Energy, acted again as sponsor and broke a ceremonial bottle of sparkling wine across the bow. After christening, work intensified on installing and integrating the ship's combat systems, sensors, communications equipment, aviation facilities and combined diesel-and-gas turbine propulsion plant. During this period, the Navy was implementing the technical fix for the FREEDOM-variant combining gear, and LCS 25 was completed against this updated mechanical baseline.

In 2022, MARINETTE conducted pier-side tests and then sea trials on the Great Lakes. In November 2022, she underwent acceptance trials, during which a Navy inspection team evaluated propulsion, shiphandling, electrical and auxiliary systems, and combat systems performance. With these trials successfully completed, the Navy accepted delivery of the future USS MARINETTE from the industry team on February 3, 2023, at Marinette. Delivery transferred the ship to Navy custody as a pre-commissioning unit and made her the thirteenth FREEDOM-variant and seventeenth littoral combat ship delivered overall.

Following delivery, the crew moved aboard and began intensive preparations for active service while the ship remained in the Great Lakes. They worked up watch teams, ran engineering and navigation drills, practiced flight-deck operations with helicopters, and completed remaining post-delivery work. The Navy designated Naval Station Mayport, Florida, as her future homeport, aligning MARINETTE with the other FREEDOM-variant ships under Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two.

USS MARINETTE was commissioned on September 16, 2023, in Menominee, Michigan, just across the river from her namesake city. The ceremony formally placed the ship in active service as USS MARINETTE (LCS 25) under her first commanding officer and integrated her into the surface force. After commissioning, she continued to operate for a time on the Great Lakes for shakedown and outreach. Late in October 2023, she was pierside in Cleveland, Ohio, when a serious incident occurred: on October 27, 2023, her executive officer, Commander Jonathan Michael Volkle, was found unresponsive aboard the ship and later pronounced deceased, with civilian and Navy reporting identifying his death as suicide. The Navy opened an investigation and focused on supporting the crew during the immediate aftermath.

By November 2023, MARINETTE had left the Great Lakes and reached her Atlantic Fleet homeport. On November 20, 2023, she was documented alongside at Naval Station Mayport, confirming her arrival in Florida and the start of her operational association with LCSRON Two. In early 2024, she undertook short underways from Mayport into the local Jacksonville operating areas, including day operations around March 5, 2024, to exercise engineering plants, shiphandling and combat systems while remaining close to base during the final phases of post-delivery work and training.

In late May 2024, MARINETTE took part in Fleet Week New York, one of the Navy's principal public-outreach events in the northeastern United States. From May 23 to May 27, 2024, she was berthed at the Homeport Pier on Staten Island, open for public tours as part of a group that included amphibious assault ship USS BATAAN (LHD 5) and foreign warships such as German Navy units BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG and FRANKFURT AM MAIN, as well as U.S. Coast Guard and Naval Academy vessels. Visitors were able to see a modern littoral combat ship alongside larger platforms, and the crew engaged in ceremonies and community events throughout the week.

Soon afterward, MARINETTE shifted to New England for Independence Day activities. In early July 2024, she anchored in Narragansett Bay off Bristol, Rhode Island, in support of the Bristol Fourth of July celebrations, which are among the oldest continuous Independence Day observances in the United States. From July 4 to July 7, 2024, visitors were ferried by boat to tour the ship, and her presence formed part of the maritime backdrop to the local festivities.

After the Bristol visit, MARINETTE proceeded west toward Connecticut. On July 8, 2024, she steamed up the Thames River past New London and entered Submarine Base New London at Groton. The port call served both outreach and internal Navy purposes, giving submarine-base personnel and local communities the opportunity to see a recently commissioned surface combatant and allowing her crew to interact with sailors from the undersea force.

By mid-2025, the ship's routine reflected her transition from shakedown and outreach toward more regular fleet employment. On June 9, 2025, USS MARINETTE held a change of command ceremony alongside at Naval Station Mayport, during which Commander Ryan Miller relieved Commander Janet Broome as commanding officer. The event marked the first documented command turnover since commissioning and confirmed her continuing assignment to Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two at Mayport.

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