The U.S. Navy has announced that commissioning of its newest Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, USS Milwaukee (LCS 5), would take place on Saturday, Nov. 21 during a ceremony on Milwaukee’s waterfront. Milwaukee, designated LCS 5, honors the city of Milwaukee and is the fifth U.S. ship in the nation’s history to be named in honor of Milwaukee.
Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, will deliver the ceremony’s principal address. Sylvia M. Panetta, wife of former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, is serving as the ship’s sponsor.
The LCS class consists of two variants, the Freedom variant and the Independence variant – designed and built by two industry teams. The Freedom variant team is led by Lockheed Martin (for the odd-numbered hulls, e.g. LCS 1). The Independence variant team is being led by Austal USA (for LCS 6 and the subsequent even-numbered hulls) and was originally led by General Dynamics, Bath Iron Works (LCS 2 and LCS 4).
The LCS seaframes will be outfitted with reconfigurable payloads, called mission modules (made up of mission systems and support equipment), which can be changed quickly. These modules combine with crew detachments and aviation assets to become complete mission packages, which will deploy manned and unmanned vehicles and sensors in support of mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, or surface warfare missions.
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Image: US Navy