The future USS Milwaukee — sixth in the growing fleet of littoral combat ships — has been accepted by the Navy and will be based in San Diego.
The ship was built in a Wisconsin shipyard on Lake Michigan, and its commissioning will be held Nov. 21 in its namesake city before sailing through the Great Lakes and heading to San Diego.
Milwaukee is third of the monohull, Freedom variant, to join the fleet. The other ships are based on a trimaran hull.
“With each LCS delivered, we have succeeded in driving down costs by incorporating lessons learned to provide the Navy with a highly capable and flexible ship,” said LCS program manager Capt. Tom Anderson. “We are honored to place the Milwaukee in the able hands of her crew as they set sail for the ship’s commissioning.”
Following commissioning, Milwaukee will be homeported in San Diego with sister ships USS Freedom (LCS 1), USS Independence (LCS 2), USS Fort Worth (LCS 3), USS Coronado (LCS 4) and the future USS Jackson (LCS 6).
The littoral combat ships are modular vessels that can be configured for three different missions: surface warfare, mine countermeasures and anti-submarine warfare. The Navy is building 50 in two variants.
