Squadron gives U.S. Navy warship a vessel safety check
Early Saturday morning on May 9, 2026, the new U.S. Navy ship USS Cleveland entered the western waters of Lake Erie. Having departed from a shipbuilding site along the Wisconsin shoreline of Lake Michigan, it was heading toward Cleveland with an estimated arrival time of noon.
Thousands of people lined Lake Erie’s Ohio shoreline from Vermilion to Lakewood to see the ship. Many more gathered at Cleveland’s Huntington Park, Bradstreet Pier, Lakewood Park Solstice Steps, the Edgewater Park break wall, and on Gold Coast balconies.
The ship was commissioned on May 16 at North Coast Harbor. Security was tight; a photo ID was required to board. The USS Cleveland Legacy Foundation hosted an entire week of events to mark the commissioning. A nonprofit committed to supporting the sailors and family members of the future USS Cleveland, the foundation aims to foster a lifelong bond between the ship and the people of Cleveland and northeast Ohio.
The U.S. Navy’s newest littoral combat ship (LCS-31) is a warship designed to be fast and adaptable for near-shore operations. While the ship’s larger cousins like cruisers and aircraft carriers have hundreds of crew members, the USS Cleveland boasts a tightknit crew of less than 90. That means that every sailor must be at the top of their game while juggling multiple jobs at once—some of which they would not normally perform.
A cadre of vessel examiners from North Coast Ohio Sail & Power Squadron/7 came up with the idea to perform a vessel safety check of the ship and present a VSC decal to the captain. This would be good publicity for the squadron and America’s Boating Club | United States Power Squadrons.
The group of vessel examiners consisted of Harry Barnes, James Mason, David Kincaid and me. Carol Mason, who is president of the Riverbelles, the squadron’s women’s auxiliary, was also there.
During a scheduled tour of the ship, we met with the commanding officer, Capt. Bruce Hallett. He said that he was familiar with us and our mission of safe recreational boating through education and vessel safety checks in partnership with the USCG Auxiliary.
Jokingly, we informed him that the vessel had failed its examination because it lacked the placards “Discharge of Oil,” “MARPOL,” and “Dumping of Garbage Prohibited in the Great Lakes.” Fortunately, we had brought the placards with us and presented them, a VSC passing decal and a North Coast Ohio Sail & Power Squadron burgee to the captain. The burgee is currently displayed in a glass cabinet on board the ship. The ship’s mess bulletin board will post the placards, but we wonder if the VSC decal will be shown on a portside bridge window.
Either way, we had fun, and it felt great to represent our squadron and the organization during the 250th anniversary year of America.
North Coast Ohio Sail & Power Squadron wishes the mighty USS Cleveland a safe passage wherever it may be deployed in the world.
