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“We’re very excited:” Ahead of Nov. 21st commissioning, step aboard the future USS Milwaukee
"We're very excited:" Ahead of Nov. 21st commissioning, step aboard the future USS Milwaukee
MARINETTE -- One of the Navy's newest ships will soon set sail with a brand new crew. The ship was built in Wisconsin, and it will soon bear the name of the state's largest city.
USS Milwaukee
The future USS Milwaukee is 389 feet long and can reach speeds of 40 knots -- around 46 miles-per-hour.
"Typical deployment -- we`ll have just under 100 folks on board," Cmdr. Kendall Bridgewater said.
They'll have to deal with relatively tight quarters.
"I`ve found at least a couple places where I`ve hit my head. You just get used to ducking and squeezing by. Personal space kind of goes out the window on board," Lt. J.G. Alexander Gallagher.
USS Milwaukee
The USS Milwaukee is an LCS -- or littoral combat ship. That class of ship is designed to be able to adapt to a wide range of missions it would be sent on.
Those different payloads can be changed out quickly.
"It`s just a new way that we`re thinking with the Navy of how we can adapt to rapidly changing technology," Cmdr. Bridgewater said.
USS Milwaukee
The USS Milwaukee was built in Marinette -- at Marinette Marine. After leaving the Great Lakes, the ship will make its way to Florida for additional tests, and eventually, to its home port in San Diego.
"To be able to have the opportunity to commission a ship, in the state where the ship is built, represent the city that it`s going to be named after, and to be able to be commissioned in that same city is quite an honor, it`s quite rare, and it`s not lost on the crew, the special privilege that we have to be able to do this," Cmdr. Bridgewater said.
The USS Milwaukee is the fifth ship to be commissioned under the name "Milwaukee." The last Milwaukee was decommissioned in 1994.
USS Milwaukee
"We`re very excited to bring the name Milwaukee back to the United States Navy," Cmdr. Bridgewater said.
Tours of the USS Milwaukee are taking place on Sunday, November 15th through Thursday, November 19th at Veterans Park. IMPORTANT: ALL TOUR TIMES HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY BOOKED.
The ship's commissioning ceremony is coming up on November 21st.
CLICK HERE for more on this story via WLUK.
READ IT: Notice to mariners from Milwaukee police - Special event zone restricted area Nov. 12th-23rd.
USS Milwaukee