The Freedom-variant littoral fight ship USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) returned to Mayport, Fla. April 2, following its first profitable deployment to the U.S. 4th Fleet space of operations. Whereas deployed, Milwaukee, with their embarked U.S. Coast Guard Regulation Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) 402, assisted in disrupting an estimated 915 kilograms of cocaine value over an estimated road worth of over $64 million and eliminated eight suspected drug traffickers from the narcotics commerce. Milwaukee, together with the “Sea Knights” of Helicopter Sea Fight Squadron (HSC) 22, Detachment 5, deployed on December 14, 2021, to conduct U.S. Southern Command and Joint Interagency Job Pressure South’s counter-narcotics operations within the Caribbean Sea.
“This was an important expertise for the crew, a lot of whom this was their first deployment,” mentioned Cmdr. Brian Forster, commanding officer of Milwaukee. “We had been in a position to accomplish many nice feats together with disrupting drug trafficking, working with our allied naval companions, going by means of the Panama Canal and even crossing the equator. The crew that’s returning is a really completely different crew that left months in the past. They’ve seen many points of the world and completely different cultures together with the delicacies. We are going to proceed to develop, not simply as Sailors, however as People and preserve our Navy the strongest on the earth.”
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Milwaukee was the primary to deploy with the MQ-8C Hearth Scout, the Navy’s upgraded variant of the unmanned plane. Hearth Scout was used to determine targets of curiosity and refine surveillance information of current targets of curiosity, permitting for enhanced capabilities for counter illicit drug trafficking missions. Milwaukee carried out three bilateral maritime workout routines with Jamaica, Martinique, and Ecuador to strengthen partnerships and construct interoperability between forces. Moreover, Milwaukee transited the Panama Canal, crossed the equator and visited Manta, Ecuador to construct lasting relationships with the Ecuadorian navy and conduct counter-illicit drug trafficking missions within the Jap Pacific.
Through the port go to to Manta, the ship carried out navy to navy engagements and hosted the Mayor of Manta, Agustin Quijano, commander of the Jaramijó Naval Base, Capt. Diego Espinosa, and members of the Ecuadorian navy for a tour. U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet helps U.S. Southern Command’s joint and mixed navy operations by using maritime forces in cooperative maritime safety operations to take care of entry, improve interoperability, and construct enduring partnerships in an effort to improve regional safety and promote peace, stability and prosperity within the Caribbean, Central and South American area.
