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USS Milwaukee (LCS 5)

USS MILWAUKEE was the third FREEDOM - class Littoral Combat Ship and the fifth ship in the Navy named after the city of Milwaukee in Wisconsin. USS MILWAUKEE was decommissioned at her homeport of Mayport, Fla., on September 8, 2023, after less than 8 years of service.

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Crew List:

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

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Accidents aboard USS MILWAUKEE:

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USS MILWAUKEE History:

The Navy awarded the Fincantieri Marinette Marine/Lockheed Martin team the construction contract for the fifth FREEDOM-variant littoral combat ship on December 29, 2010, and on March 18, 2011, the Secretary of the Navy announced the ship would bear the name MILWAUKEE. Keel-laying took place at Marinette, Wisconsin, on October 27, 2011. The ship was launched on December 18, 2013, and was sponsored by Sylvia M. Panetta. Through 2014-2015, the builder and Navy executed pier-side activation and trials. During Labor Day weekend on September 5, 2015, while still in builder custody and conducting pre-commissioning runs near Chambers Island in Door County, Wisconsin, the ship's wake damaged dozens of small craft. After a months-long inquiry the Coast Guard took no enforcement action. MILWAUKEE completed acceptance events and was delivered in mid-October 2015, then was commissioned in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on November 21, 2015.

After commissioning, MILWAUKEE proceeded down the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence route to the Atlantic and made a short logistics call at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on December 4, 2015. On December 11, 2015, during the southbound transit the ship suffered a complete loss of propulsion and was towed to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story, Virginia. Navy engineering analysis determined that during a shift between propulsion modes a clutch failed to disengage, damaging components in the combining gear. Repairs and inspections were carried out in the Norfolk/Mayport repair base ecosystem into early 2016, and the Navy publicly explained the clutch/combining-gear failure mechanism on February 23, 2016.

With the FREEDOM-variant fleet consolidating on the U.S. East Coast, MILWAUKEE participated in a homeport-shift ceremony at Naval Station Mayport on December 30, 2016, and was assigned to LCSRON TWO. The ship then cycled through basic phase events and supported early elements of mission-package and weapons testing. On May 16, 2018, MILWAUKEE conducted a developmental live-fire event of the Surface-to-Surface Missile Module, launching multiple AGM-114L Longbow Hellfires against FIAC-type targets on the Eglin Gulf Test Range in the Gulf of Mexico - an important milestone toward maturing the SUW mission package. In 2019, MILWAUKEE conducted at-sea workups off the Southeast U.S. and in the Jacksonville operating areas that included flight operations with the Fire Scout program. The Navy declared MQ-8C Fire Scout initial operational capability on June 28, 2019, and East Coast squadron HSC-22 prepared to deploy the system aboard LCS.

As the Navy addressed the FREEDOM-variant's combining-gear defect across the class in 2020-2021, MILWAUKEE continued preparations for counter-illicit trafficking operations with U.S. 4th Fleet. The ship embarked HSC-22 Detachment 5, integrating MH-60S and the MQ-8C Fire Scout, and departed Mayport on December 14, 2021, for deployment to the SOUTHCOM/4th Fleet area. During a planned fuel stop at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay on December 24, 2021, the ship paused after a portion of the fully immunized crew tested positive for COVID-19. The outbreak produced mild cases, and, after mitigation and testing, MILWAUKEE returned to sea in early January 2022 to continue the mission.

From January through March 2022, MILWAUKEE operated in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific in support of Joint Interagency Task Force South. The ship conducted three bilateral maritime exercises (with Jamaica, Martinique, and Ecuador), transited the Panama Canal to prosecute Eastern Pacific tasking, and executed a south-to-north equator crossing en route to and from Pacific stations. A liberty and engagement visit at Manta, Ecuador, supported partner-navy interoperability. Across the deployment the ship assisted in disrupting approximately 915 kilograms of cocaine and removed eight suspected traffickers from the trade. MILWAUKEE returned to Naval Station Mayport on April 2, 2022, concluding roughly 15 weeks on task.

While pier-side at Naval Station Mayport on July 29, 2022, MILWAUKEE experienced a Class-C electrical fire that was quickly contained by ship's force with assistance from Jacksonville Fire and Rescue and nearby Navy teams. There were no serious injuries. A dozen sailors were checked for smoke inhalation as a precaution, and damage was ultimately assessed as confined largely to a single stateroom. The Navy conducted follow-on investigation and repairs during the late-summer maintenance window.

MILWAUKEE deployed again from Mayport on October 19, 2022, to the U.S. 4th Fleet area for regional security operations, maritime interdiction, and humanitarian-assistance/disaster-relief readiness. Embarked aviation elements continued integrated MH-60S/MQ-8C operations to extend the ship's ISR&T reach in support of boarding and interdiction tasking. Over the following eight months MILWAUKEE operated with partner nations throughout the Caribbean basin and along the coasts of Central and South America, supporting SOUTHCOM lines of effort against transnational criminal organizations and conducting multiple theater security cooperation events. The ship returned to Mayport on June 19, 2023, after a 243-day deployment.

Following direction in the FY23 force-structure plan, MILWAUKEE was formally decommissioned at Naval Station Mayport on September 8, 2023, concluding active service that began at commissioning in late 2015. The ceremony recognized the ship's FREEDOM-variant developmental contributions (including Hellfire/SuW mission-module firings and early MQ-8C integration) and its two counter-drug deployments with U.S. 4th Fleet.

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USS MILWAUKEE Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning on October 7, 2018, during an open ship event aboard USS MILWAUKEE (LCS 5) as part of Fleet Week Maryland at Baltimore, Md.

			Click here for more Photos.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning on May 26, 2022, during an open ship event aboard USS MILWAUKEE (LCS 5) as part of Fleet Week New York.

			Click here for more Photos.

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