US Navy secretary confirms date for USS Detroit commissioning

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus has officially confirmed the October 22, 2016 date for the commissioning of the recently delivered USS Detroit.

The U.S. Navy previously accepted delivery of future USS Detroit (LCS 7) during a ceremony at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard on August 12.

Following its commissioning, the ship will make its first international port call when it sails across the Detroit River on Monday, October 24 to spend four days in Windsor, Ontario.

A Freedom-class littoral combat ship, the USS Detroit is the sixth U.S. Navy ship to bear the city’s name. The previous USS Detroit (CL 8), a light cruiser, was one of the few ships to get underway during the attack on Pearl Harbor and earned six Battle Stars during WWII. She was moored with the battleship USS Missouri during the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay in 1945.

The new USS Detroit was launched and christened on October 18, 2014 by Barbara Levin, the ship’s sponsor and wife of long serving, retired United States Senator Carl Levin, during ceremonies at the Marinette Marine Shipyard. The USS Detroit will be commissioned on the Detroit, Michigan, waterfront on October 22, 2016.