DETROIT – The Navy League of the United States announced that the city of Detroit has been selected as the commissioning site for the Navy's newest Littoral Combat Ship, USS Detroit (LCS 7).
The ship is currently being built in Marinette, Wisconsin, and will be formally commissioned on the Detroit River in downtown Detroit in the spring of 2016.
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"We are looking forward to hosting USS Detroit crew members and their families during commissioning week," said Capt. John G. McCandless, USN (Ret.), Commissioning Committee chairman and president of the Metropolitan Detroit Council, Navy League of the United States. "There will be many opportunities for Detroit-area residents to show support for their namesake ship and her crew, not only during commissioning week, but at events leading up to commissioning."
Jay Farner, president and chief marketing officer at Quicken Loans, the nation's second largest mortgage lender and the country's largest Veterans Affairs home loan lender, is the honorary chairman of the USS Detroit Commissioning Committee. The committee's responsibilities include recruiting other local and regional members of the business, civic and philanthropic community to support the commissioning ceremony.
"Quicken Loans holds a deep sense of gratitude toward the men and women in our military who so selflessly give of themselves to ensure our freedom and way of life," Farner said. "It is an honor to spearhead this effort and get our community excited about supporting this ship that not only carries our name, but represents our great city in its future endeavors around the globe."
The keel for the new USS Detroit, the sixth U.S. Navy warship to be named for the city of Detroit, was laid on November 8, 2012 by Barbara Levin, the ship's sponsor and wife of Senator Carl Levin.
This fall, the vessel will be christened USS Detroit (LCS 7) when Mrs. Levin breaks the traditional bottle of champagne over the ship's bow to launch the ship into the Menominee River, which defines the border between Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The ship's maiden voyage will be in the spring of 2016 when she sails to Detroit for her commissioning.
"It‘s so fitting that we will commission the USS Detroit, which embodies the next generation of our Navy's capabilities, in a city focusing on new horizons," Barbara Levin said. "As the USS Detroit's sponsor and a lifelong resident of Detroit, I am truly proud that we will have this opportunity to introduce a great ship and a great city to one another."
Littoral Combat Ships are fast, agile, focused-mission platforms designed for operation in near-shore environments yet capable of open-ocean operation. The LCS class consists of two variants, the monohull Freedom-class and the trihull Independence-class. USS Detroit (LCS 7) will be the seventh Littoral Combat Ship and the fourth Freedom-class LCS to join the U.S. Navy fleet.
When completed, USS Detroit (LCS 7) will have a core crew of 50 Navy men and women. The ship is 387 feet in length, has a beam of 57 feet and a draft of only 14 feet. She will be powered by two diesel engines for normal cruising, but also has two Rolls Royce MT30 gas turbines that will propel the ship in excess of 40 knots. Following her commissioning, USS Detroit will sail to her homeport of San Diego.
Additional information on USS Detroit (LCS 7) is available on www.ussdetroit.blogspot.com and navy.mil.