Awarded 29 December 2010 Sponsored by Sylvia M. Panetta Construction started 27 October 2011 Length 115 m Builder Marinette Marine | Laid down 27 October 2011 Commissioned 21 November 2015 Launched 18 December 2013 Endurance 21 days 0 hours | |
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USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship of the United States Navy. She is the fifth ship to be named for the city of Milwaukee, the largest city in Wisconsin. She was laid down on 27 October 2011 at Marinette Marine (Lockheed Martin), Marinette, Wisconsin; launched on 18 December 2013; sponsored by Mrs. Sylvia M. Panetta, wife of Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta; and commissioned on 21 November 2015.
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History
Over the 2015 Labor Day weekend holiday, it was reported that Milwaukee generated waves greater than five feet tall during test runs near Door County's Chambers Island which damaged more than 40 boats. Milwaukee was still in the custody of Marinette Marine at the time of the incident and was conducting pre-commissioning acceptance trials. In June 2016, the Coast Guard announced that their investigation was complete and that no enforcement action would be taken against any of the parties involved.
Milwaukee completed her acceptance trials prior to 1 November 2015 and was commissioned in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on 21 November 2015. She has improved systems as well as mission modules compared to USS Freedom and USS Independence, the first two Littoral Combat Ships. Her keel was laid down on 27 October 2011. Lockheed VP Joe North has said that starting with Milwaukee, the Lockheed LCS design is "done, locked and stable". This is after thirty or so changes from USS Fort Worth on top of hundreds of changes from USS Freedom. One of the improvements for Milwaukee is specially designed waterjets that replace the commercial versions used on previous Littoral Combat Ships.
On 11 December 2015, on its way to San Diego from Halifax, Nova Scotia, the vessel experienced a "complete loss of propulsion" and was towed to Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Virginia.
On 23 February 2016, CNN reported an update on the status of Milwaukee. In that update Navy Lt. Rebecca Haggard stated that Milwaukee "is designed to operate with gas turbine and diesel engines, which can operate in tandem or independently, In the case of Milwaukee, when switching from one system to the other, a clutch failed to disengage as designed. Instead, the clutch remained spinning and some of the clutch gears were damaged." Lt. Haggard also stated that quick action by the crew prevented more serious problems and the damaged clutch was repaired in Virginia.
On 30 December 2016, Milwaukee participated in a homeport shift ceremony that took place at Naval Station Mayport. The ship was previously based out of Naval Base San Diego.