U.S. Navy’s Freedom-class littoral combat ship USS Detroit (LCS 7) recently returned to port after completing combat system ship qualification trials (CSSQT), March 15.
During the qualification, LCS Crew 103 conducted several trials to test the functionality of their combat systems suite, involving firing exercises and using their 57mm gun against a fast attack craft.
The exercise is designed to test the ship’s ability to track and disable high-speed maneuvering surface targets.
“I am intensely proud of [our] superior performance throughout CSSQT,” said Cmdr. Michael Desmond, commanding officer of LCS Crew 103. “From the weeks of tactical and technical training, to ensuring the associated ammunition was safely on-loaded and stored, to the brilliant ship handling and operating area planning, my sailors made it look easy.”
During the trials, USS Detroit became the U.S. Navy’s first littoral combat ship to test of a Longbow Hellfire short-range missile system. The test took place on February 28 off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, and marked the first launch of a missile from the Surface to Surface Missile Module (SSMM) from an LCS as well as the first vertical missile launched from an LCS, as part of the developmental test program for the Surface Warfare (SUW) Mission Package (MP).
“The testing aboard USS Detroit was an important milestone in advancing LCS capability, not only for the LCS community but for the entire fleet. As small boat threats proliferate, the SSMM will give our ships added lethality,” said Cmdr. Desmond commented the test.
The Lockheed Martin team-built ship was commissioned on October 22, 2016, and is homeported in Mayport, Florida. During her maiden voyage, USS Voyage became the first U.S. Navy ship to make its inaugural port call in Canda by visiting the city of Windsor.