USS Milwaukee (LCS-5)

Littoral Combat Ship

United States | 2015

"USS Milwaukee LCS-5 became the third Littoral Combat Ship constructed for the Freedom-class of the United States Navy in November 2015."

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 12/27/2021 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site; No A.I. was used in the generation of this content.

Image from the United States DoD DVIDS imagery database; Public Release.

USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) represents one of sixteen planned "Littoral Combat Ships" designed and manufactured for the United States Navy (USN). These warships are corvette-type hulls intended for Close-to-Shore operations - the littoral zone - in support of Allied forces, primarily during amphibious-minded assaults. The contract for USS Milwaukee was awarded to Marinette Marine of Marinette, Wisconsin on December 29th, 2010 and the vessel saw her keel laid down on October 27th, 2011. She was launched to sea for trials and training on December 18th, 2013, and formally commissioned into USN service on November 21st, 2015.

In active service as of this writing (2022), the vessel homeports from Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida, fighting under the motto of "Strength - Freedom".

The warship is designed to the "Freedom-class" standard headed by Lockheed Martin and is the alternative LCS offering to the "Independence-class" ships by General Dynamics/Austal. In all, there are twenty-one LCS hulls operated by the USN with additional units planned or currently under construction. However, the designs have not been outright successes, prompting the service to head in the direction of the new "Constellation-class" frigates detailed elsewhere on this site. The two LCS classes are distinct from one another in that Freedom-class hulls are traditional in their straight-line approach whereas Constellation-class ships utilize a trimaran hull design.

As completed, USS Milwaukee has a displacement of 3,900 short tons, an overall length of 376.2 feet, a beam of 57.4 feet, and a draught of 14 feet - the draught measurement being critical to littoral operations close-to-shore. Installed power encompasses 2 x Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines coupled with 2 x Colt-Pielstick marine diesels for the proper balance of fuel efficiency and propulsion power. For fine maneuvering, 4 x Rolls-Royce waterjets are included. Maximum achievable speeds in ideal conditions is 45 knots with a range out to 3,500 nautical miles. The vessel can remain on station for up to 21 days before resupply.

Aboard is a crew complement of 125 of which 50 represent the core operating personnel. The ship carries EADS TRS-3D C-band, X-band, and S-band radars and is outfitted with the WBR2000 Electronic Warfare (EW) suite. Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boats (RHIBs) are also carried for boarding and deterrence actions.

Armament consists of 1 x 57mm Bae Systems Mk 110 series turreted deck gun, 1 x RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) launcher, 2 x 30mm Mk 44 Bushmaster automatic cannons, 6 x Mark 50 torpedo launchers, and 4 x 12.7mm Heavy Machine Guns (HMGs) - all this to provide the warship with solutions against aerial, surface, land, and undersea threats. A small air arm makes up the rotary-wing capabilities of this ship and includes support for 2 x Sikorsky MH-60R/S Seahawk helicopters as well as the MQ-8 Fire Scout helicopter UAV.

To date, USS Milwaukee's operational service has been fraught with issues: in testing her wake generated waves that damaged at least forty civilian vessels at Chambers Island. She lost propulsion power on a December 2015 run en route to San Diego from Nova Scotia and had to be towed. A clutch failure was noted during a February 2016 report. In 2022, the ship was placed on lock down due to a COVID-19 outbreak amongst the completely vaccinated crew.

The USN has already been actively working to decommission the earlier Freedom-class ships in service. However, Milwaukee avoided reserve status primarily due to her involvement in ASW technology testing and her hull also features costly updates/modifications implemented from operational experience had with earlier ships in the series - as such, she will remain in active commissioned service.

Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.

December 2021 - A COVID-19 outbreak aboard USS Milwaukee has led to the ship's lockdown.

Power & Performance
Those special qualities that separate one sea-going vessel design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for USS Milwaukee (LCS-5).

2 x Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbines with 2 x Colt-Pielstick marine diesel engines; 4 x Rolls-Royce waterjets.
Propulsion

45.0 kts
51.8 mph
Surface Speed

3,511 nm
4,040 miles | 6,502 km
Range

Structure
The bow-to-stern, port-to-starboard physical qualities of USS Milwaukee (LCS-5).

125
Personnel
Complement

378.2 ft
115.28 meters
O/A Length

57.4 ft
17.50 meters
Beam

14.0 ft
4.27 meters
Draught

3,900
tons
Displacement

Armament
Available supported armament and special-mission equipment featured in the design of USS Milwaukee (LCS-5).

1 x 57mm BAe Systems Mk 110 turreted deck gun.
1 x RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) launcher.
2 x 30mm Bushmaster automatic cannons.
4 x 12.7mm Heavy Machine Guns (HMGs).
6 x Mark 50 torpedo launchers.

Air Arm
Available supported fixed-wing / rotary-wing aircraft featured in the design of USS Milwaukee (LCS-5).

2 x Sikorsky MH-60R/S navy helicopter equipped for Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) role.
1 x MQ-8 Fire Scout helicopter UAV.

Ships-in-Class (16)
Notable series variants as part of the USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) family line as relating to the Freedom-class group.

USS Freedom (LCS-1); USS Fort Worth (LCS-3); USS Milwaukee (LCS-5); USS Detroit (LCS-7); USS Little Rock (LCS-9); USS Sioux City (LCS-11); USS Whichita (LCS-13); USS Billings (LCS-15); USS Indianpolis (LCS-17); USS St. Louis (LCS-19); USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul (LCS-21); USS Cooperstown (LCS-21); USS Marinette (LCS-23); USS Nantucket (LCS-27); USS Beloit (LCS-29); USS Cleveland (LCS-31)

Operators
Global operator(s) of the USS Milwaukee (LCS-5). Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national naval warfare listing.

Shipbuilder(s): Marinette Marine - USA

[ United States ]

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Image from the United States DoD DVIDS imagery database; Public Release.

Mission Roles
Some designs are single-minded in their approach while others offer a more versatile solution to seaborne requirements.

BLUE WATER SERVICE

CLOSE-TO-SHORE

OFFSHORE BOMBARDMENT

OFFSHORE OPERATION

LAND-ATTACK

MARITIME PATROL

AIRSPACE DENIAL

FLEET SUPPORT

SHIP-TO-SHORE

Recognition
Some designs stand the test of time while others are doomed to never advance beyond the drawing board; let history be their judge.

Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft

Going Further...
USS Milwaukee (LCS-5) Littoral Combat Ship appears in the following collections:

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