Экипаж корабля USS Beloit посетил родной город Висонсин во время праздников

BELOIT, Wis. (Rockford News First) - Some resident had the opportunity to connect with the crew of their city’s namesake ship this Labor Day weekend as eight sailors from the USS Beloit visited the community. For many, the visit represents the bridging of a gap normally hundreds of miles wide. While the ship honors the Wisconsin city, its crew is based out of Jacksonville, Florida. “It’s almost like one family meeting another one, and we’ve known each other the entire time,” USS Beloit LCS 29 Command Master Chief Matthew Footdale said. A Historic Connection Commissioned in November 2024, the USS Beloit is a Freedom-class littoral combat ship built for surface warfare and capable of deploying overseas for Navy operations. Remarkably, it is the first U S. Navy vessel to bear the Beloit name. The ship carries a close-knit crew of roughly 80 sailors who must rely on each other daily to prepare for future missions. “We all have to be tight knit because we have to lean on each other since everybody has a specific job to do,” USS Beloit LCS 29 Manuel Gonzalez said. “That specific job, it will affect other sailors on board so we all have to work as a team every day.” Stepping Away from Routine The Labor Day weekend visit, organized by the vessel’s supporting nonprofit, gave the visiting sailors a chance to step away from their intense training schedule. Just last month, the crew was conducting deck landing qualifications, a routine process where helicopter pilots practice landing on the ship’s flight deck to achieve their official qualifications. For USS Beloit LCS 29 Commanding Officer Jason DeJesus, the goal of bringing the sailors to Wisconsin goes far beyond a simple holiday weekend trip. He hopes the crew carries the spirit of Beloit back to Florida and onto future deployments. “I want them to know that this is where it came from,” DeJesus said. “The community to interact with the community and then bring all those stories back so everybody understands why we are named Beloit.”