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USS Fort Worth (LCS 3)

USS FORT WORTH is the second FREEDOM - class Littoral Combat Ship and the first ship in the Navy named after the city of Fort Worth in Texas.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS FORT WORTH. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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USS FORT WORTH History:

USS FORT WORTH traces its origins to the naming announcement on March 6, 2009, when the Secretary of the Navy designated LCS 3 as the future FORT WORTH, honoring the Texas city. Construction proceeded at Marinette Marine in Wisconsin, where the keel was laid on July 11, 2009, and the ship was christened and launched into the Menominee River on December 4, 2010 with Congresswoman Kay Granger as sponsor. After builder's trials on Lake Michigan in late 2011, FORT WORTH completed acceptance trials on May 4, 2012 and was delivered to the U.S. Navy in early June 2012. The ship began its sail-away from Marinette on August 6, 2012 to stage for commissioning, and it officially entered service at Galveston, Texas on September 22, 2012. Following post-commissioning transits and work-ups, FORT WORTH shifted to its homeport at Naval Base San Diego in October 2012, where it completed initial crew certifications, combat systems exercises, and surface warfare mission package trials during 2013, including live-fire events in November 2013 that validated coordinated small-boat defense while integrating an MH-60R helicopter and the Navy's MQ-8B Fire Scout vertical takeoff unmanned aerial vehicle for the first time on an LCS.

Through 2014, FORT WORTH remained San Diego-based while preparing for the first extended "3-2-1" rotational crew deployment in the class - a concept under which three crews support two hulls to keep one continuously deployed forward. The ship departed San Diego on November 17, 2014, entered the U.S. 7th Fleet area on December 4, and made a logistics port call at Apra Harbor, Guam on December 11 en route to Southeast Asia. FORT WORTH arrived at Changi Naval Base, Singapore on December 29, 2014 to commence a planned 16-month forward deployment in support of the Indo-Asia-Pacific rebalance, operating with an embarked HSM-35 aviation detachment that combined one MH-60R Seahawk with one MQ-8B Fire Scout to extend surveillance range and maritime domain awareness.

Within days of settling in Singapore, FORT WORTH was directed to join the multinational search for Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501. The ship sortied from Changi and reached the search box in the Java Sea on January 3, 2015, operating alongside the destroyer USS SAMPSON (DDG 102) and Indonesian authorities. Over nearly two weeks, FORT WORTH's MH-60R and MQ-8B flew combined sorties tallying hundreds of hours of search time while the ship coordinated with regional partners. The detachment was released from the tasking on January 15, and FORT WORTH resumed theater operations and logistics in Singapore.

In February 2015, the first rotational crew swap of the deployment occurred at Changi, after which FORT WORTH ranged north to Northeast Asia. On March 18, 2015 the ship made a landmark port visit to Sasebo, Japan - the first visit to Japan by an LCS - conducting engagements with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and completing routine maintenance before returning south. By mid-April, FORT WORTH was back in Singapore for upkeep, then resumed patrols in the South China Sea. In mid-May the ship completed a presence patrol near the Spratly Islands as regional tensions rose over land-reclamation activities. On May 13, 2015 FORT WORTH put into Subic Bay, Philippines, for logistics and to stage follow-on activities with the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

From June through October 2015, the ship executed a dense series of bilateral exercises in the long-running Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) series. In the Philippines, FORT WORTH's first CARAT phase concluded with a June 26 closing ceremony at Naval Station Apolinario Jalandoon in Puerto Princesa after at-sea drills with BRP GREGORIO DEL PILAR (PF 15) and BRP RAMON ALCARAZ (PF 16), including formation maneuvers, gunnery, visit-board-search-and-seizure training, air defense events, deck-landing qualifications and a search-and-rescue exercise. In July, the ship participated in CARAT Singapore alongside USS LASSEN (DDG 82), USS HOUSTON (SSN 713), USNS PECOS (T-AO 197), a P-8A Poseidon detachment, and Republic of Singapore Navy frigates RSS INTREPID and RSS SUPREME, executing sea control, air-maritime integration, replenishment, and cross-deck helicopter events. In early August, FORT WORTH took part in CARAT Indonesia, with opening events at Surabaya on August 3 and subsequent sea phases in the Java and Bali Seas. By August 21, the ship had also completed CARAT Malaysia, marked by a closing ceremony at Sandakan after formation sailing and maritime security drills with Royal Malaysian Navy units. In October 2015, FORT WORTH shifted north into the Bay of Bengal to conduct CARAT Bangladesh (sea phase completed October 3), focusing on surface warfare, small-boat operations, and day/night deck-landing qualifications with Bangladesh Naval Aviation observers. Later that month, the ship was involved in the harbor phase of the U.S.-India-Japan MALABAR exercise, preparing for multi-domain events including high-value unit defense, anti-submarine familiarization, and helicopter cross-deck evolutions. On November 17, 2015 FORT WORTH passed the one-year point of its 16-month rotation while remaining forward-based in Singapore and continuing maritime security patrols and engagement events.

The deployment was interrupted on January 12, 2016 during an in-port period at Changi Naval Base when a procedural error during diesel-engine testing caused loss of lubrication oil to the ship's complex combining gears, triggering high-temperature alarms and damaging the gear train that couples the gas turbines and diesels to the waterjet shafts. The Navy convened an investigation and on March 28 relieved the commanding officer. FORT WORTH remained pier-side in Singapore for months of assessment and corrective work while the Navy and industry planned a more extensive repair back in the United States. On August 22, 2016 the ship departed Singapore to return across the Pacific under restricted propulsion, crossed the International Date Line on September 21, and continued toward home. After returning to San Diego, FORT WORTH entered a period of repairs and maintenance aimed at restoring full propulsion reliability and addressing lessons from the forward deployment.

As that availability wound down, FORT WORTH also executed the manpower and employment reforms that followed the Navy's 2016 LCS study. On September 22, 2017 - the fifth anniversary of her commissioning - the ship held an exchange of command at Naval Base San Diego that ended the rotating-crew model and permanently assigned LCS Crew 103 as a single, fused crew of about 70 sailors, consolidating core crew and mission-module detachments to create a stable test-ship manning concept.

Across 2018, the Navy throttled back LCS deployments while it rebuilt the training and sustainment pipelines. In San Diego, the three earliest hulls - FREEDOM (LCS 1), INDEPENDENCE (LCS 2) and FORT WORTH - remained in planned maintenance or post-availability status rather than deploying. FORT WORTH stayed pierside at 32nd Street while supporting outreach and familiarization events. For example, on February 27, 2018, she hosted a tour for Army War College international fellows at Naval Base San Diego.

By 2019, FORT WORTH was routinely back at sea locally under U.S. 3rd Fleet tasking. A Defense Media Activity image captures her getting underway from Naval Base San Diego on May 21, 2019, marking a return to day-to-day operations and certifications after the previous year's maintenance-heavy cycle. Performance in that cycle culminated in the 2019 Battle Effectiveness ("Battle E") Award - announced March 18, 2020 - recognizing sustained readiness across warfare, engineering, C4I, logistics and safety categories for her class and region.

On May 1, 2020, FORT WORTH held a change of command while pierside at Naval Base San Diego, with Cmdr. Jeremiah Petersen relieving Cmdr. Colin Corridan. The official account of the handover highlighted that Corridan's tour included "multiple ship-wide certification events", the installation and testing of an anti-submarine warfare package, and support to 3rd Fleet tasking - an indication that, while not deployed forward, the ship continued to serve as one of the LCS platform test ships alongside FREEDOM, INDEPENDENCE and CORONADO (LCS 4). Later that summer, the Navy proposed inactivating several LCS hulls amid broader force-structure debates, a discussion that would periodically recur in subsequent budget cycles.

In 2021, the FREEDOM-variant program paused new deliveries to address a class-wide combining-gear defect, but FORT WORTH remained in commission and continued local operations and public-engagement duties in San Diego. The ship hosted tours during Fleet Week San Diego events on November 5, 2021, and on December 8, 2021 her crew received a relic from USS ARIZONA (BB 39) during a Navy-approved commemoration, reinforcing the ship's role in heritage and outreach while the class fix proceeded fleetwide.

Congress intervened in the next budget cycle: on March 9, 2022, the FY-2022 defense bill preserved several LCS hulls from proposed near-term decommissioning, and FORT WORTH remained active at San Diego. That autumn the ship again rotated commanding officers, with Cmdr. Alfonza White relieving Cmdr. Petersen during a ceremony at Naval Base San Diego on October 14, 2022. The Navy's contemporaneous summary emphasized that the crew had completed all Optimized Fleet Response Plan basic-phase certifications and performed strongly in a short-notice Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) event - signals of a ship kept at high material readiness for operational tasking even without an overseas deployment.

In 2023, service leaders publicly explored employing some LCS hulls - including FORT WORTH - as manned-unmanned "motherships". Local reporting that February 17, 2023 noted FORT WORTH remained in maintenance at her home port while the Navy assessed such concepts and broader options for the class.

On June 28, 2024, FORT WORTH conducted another change of command on her flight deck at 32nd Street, underscoring a stable rhythm of leadership transitions and crew sustainment while broader programmatic decisions played out in Washington. Early the next year, on April 7, 2025, the ship's commanding officer wrote to the USS Fort Worth Support Committee describing a "new and final chapter" as the Navy continued its multi-year effort to draw down the LCS inventory - language reflecting the ship's likely path toward inactivation pending final budget outcomes, though as of March 10, 2025 the Navy still listed FORT WORTH as an active, San Diego-based FREEDOM-variant ship.

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USS FORT WORTH Image Gallery:

The photo below was taken by Sebastian Thoma and shows the FORT WORTH at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on December 20, 2016.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the FORT WORTH dry-docked at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on October 11, 2017.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the FORT WORTH at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on September 28, 2018.

The photos below were taken by Sebastian Thoma and show the FORT WORTH at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on November 28, 2021.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the FORT WORTH at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on December 28, 2021.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the FORT WORTH at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on May 29, 2022.

The photo below was taken by Michael Jenning and shows the FORT WORTH at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on October 10, 2022.

The photo below was taken by me and shows the FORT WORTH at Naval Base San Diego, Calif., on July 26, 2024.

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