Search the Site with

General Characteristics

Crew List

Memorabilia

History

Image Gallery

to end of page

USS Detroit (LCS 7)

USS DETROIT was the fourth FREEDOM - class Littoral Combat Ship and the sixth ship in the Navy named after the city of Detroit in Michigan. Last homeported in Mayport, Fla., she was decommissioned on September 29, 2023, after not even 7 years of service.

back to top

go to the end of the page

back to top

go to the end of the page

Crew List:

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

• Click here to view the list.

back to top

go to the end of the page

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

back to top

go to the end of the page

USS DETROIT History:

USS DETROIT was built by Fincantieri Marinette Marine at Marinette, Wisconsin, laid down on November 8, 2012, launched on October 18, 2014 with Mrs. Barbara Levin as sponsor, completed acceptance trials in mid-July 2016, was delivered on August 12, 2016, and commissioned on the Detroit River on October 22, 2016. After post-commissioning events on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence, she made a six-week transit to Florida and on November 23, 2016 moored at Naval Station Mayport, her East Coast homeport under LCSRON TWO.

On December 30, 2016 she took part in a formal homeport-shift ceremony at Mayport. Early fleet introduction in 2017 focused on certifying aviation, combat systems, and hull-machinery readiness: on January 13, 2017 she completed first flight-deck evolutions with HSM-74 to certify land/launch and VERTREP. Through January-February she conducted short underways in the Jacksonville operating areas. On February 27 she entered Combat Systems Ship's Qualification Trials and on April 26 she ran Final Contract Trials with INSURV after a month of day-sail events. On March 8, 2017, during surface-warfare module workups, she executed the first vertical-launch AGM-114 HELLFIRE firing from an LCS, proving a core element of the Surface-to-Surface Missile Module. DETROIT spent the remainder of 2017-2018 in basic phase, local operations and post-delivery refinements at Mayport as the Navy rebuilt the LCS manning/training pipeline for renewed deployments.

DETROIT departed Mayport on October 31, 2019 on her maiden deployment to the U.S. 4th Fleet area, supporting SOUTHCOM and Joint Interagency Task Force South. After New Year's patrols, she made a two-day port call at Cristobal, Panama, on January 5, 2020; conducted upkeep at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay from January 11-17; transited eastbound off Venezuela on January 21 for freedom-of-navigation and intelligence-gathering tasking; made a brief logistics stop at Ponce, Puerto Rico, on January 23; and on January 26-31 visited NAS Key West for liberty before resuming operations. After a brief ammunition onload at Mayport on March 11 she redeployed on March 15 with HSC-22 Detachment 5 embarked, transited near Jardines del Rey, Cuba, on March 18, refueled at Guantanamo on March 20, and operated off northeast Cuba through March 25 before shifting to the Key West operating areas.

On May 11, while underway in the Caribbean, she conducted a PHOTOEX with USS LASSEN (DDG 82), USS PREBLE (DDG 88) and USS FARRAGUT (DDG 99) and then cycled logistics through Cristobal on May 19-20 and again on May 29. From June 5-11 she visited NAS Key West; on June 14 she qualified deck landings with U.S. Army UH-60L BLACK HAWK aircraft of JTF-Bravo's 1-228th Aviation Regiment off the coast of Honduras; and on June 18-19 returned to Cristobal for fuel and stores. On June 23 she made a brief refueling stop at Cartagena, Colombia, then again used Cristobal on June 29 and July 4, paused at Guantanamo on July 7, and steamed north to moor at Mayport on July 11, 2020, concluding a seven-month deployment that included multiple bilateral events and a run of high-tempo interdiction operations.

During late May 2020, her team, integrated with embarked USCG LEDET and other Navy units, helped net multiple drug cases in four days while patrolling the Caribbean. After ammunition offload and pier-side resets in July-August, DETROIT's GOLD crew sailed again on September 7, 2020, for a second 4th Fleet period, but on September 26 the ship moored at Vasco Nunez de Balboa Naval Base for emergent propulsion repairs associated with the FREEDOM-variant combining-gear defect. Following Panama Canal transit, she shifted to Colon on October 23 and later paused at Guantanamo before departing under escort of offshore tug GARY CHOUEST on October 31, returning north off Miami by November 4 for follow-on maintenance as the Navy and industry advanced the fleet-wide fix.

DETROIT remained at Mayport through 2021-2022 as the Navy rolled out the FREEDOM-variant combining-gear engineering correction and adjusted LCS employment, then returned to sea in 2023 for a final surge deployment. On June 21, 2023 she departed Mayport with HSC-28 Detachment 11 embarked, stopped at Guantanamo on June 25, and made a three-day Independence Day liberty visit to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on July 2-5. She next visited Bridgetown, Barbados, from July 21-24 and continued counter-illicit-trafficking patrols and regional engagement. Over Labor Day weekend, September 2-5, she called at Oranjestad, Aruba; on September 8 she conducted a passing exercise off Cartagena with Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force training ships JS KASHIMA (TV 3508) and JS HATAKAZE (TV 3520) and Colombian Navy offshore patrol vessel ARC VICTORIA (PZE 48); then returned to Puerto Rico for an in-port period at San Juan in mid-September. She operated off Puerto Rico's south coast from September 17-20, visited Ponce on September 21-22, and headed north on September 26, mooring at Mayport on September 27, 2023, to end the three-month surge.

DETROIT was decommissioned at Mayport on September 29, 2023, and stricken the same day, closing a service life that included early Hellfire/SSMM proving, repeated SOUTHCOM patrols with embarked Coast Guard and mixed Navy aviation detachments, extensive logistics network use across the Caribbean littoral, and multinational exercises that linked U.S., partner-nation, and allied training ships in the Western Hemisphere.

back to top

go to the end of the page

USS DETROIT Image Gallery:

back to top

Back to Littoral Combat Ships List.

Back to Ships List.

Back to selection page.

Back to 1^st page.