CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Fire Controlman 2nd Class Toby Chadwick, a native of Corpus Christi, Texas, recently returned to Mayport, Florida, after a four-month deployment serving aboard the USS St. Louis, a Freedom-variant littoral combat ship conducting operations along the southern border.
St. Louis returned to its homeport, Naval Station Mayport, on Nov. 10, 2025.
Chadwick, a 2021 Tuloso Midway High School graduate, joined the Navy four years ago.
“I joined the Navy to travel the world and to use it as a stepping stone to a bigger career,” Chadwick said.
Joining the workforce at a young age, Chadwick developed the fundamentals required to work with a large variety of people.
“I started working when I was 13,” Chadwick said. “It taught me at a young age how to have a good work ethic and how to work well with others, even if you don’t like each other.”
While operating primarily in the Gulf of America, St. Louis flourished in multiple joint exercises with the Mexican Navy in support of the North American Maritime Security Initiative. Sailors aboard St. Louis worked alongside embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 408 and Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 50 “Valkyries” to enable maritime interdiction missions to prevent the flow of illegal drugs or other illegal activity.
“This is my first deployment, so I see it as a milestone in my career,” Chadwick said. “I can’t wait to see what my next milestone will be.”
St. Louis is assigned to Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two. LCSs are a fast, agile, mission-focused platform designed to operate in near-shore environments against 21st-century coastal threats. The LCS is capable of supporting forward presence, maritime security, sea control and deterrence.
“Serving in the Navy means sacrificing so that others can maintain their freedom,” Chadwick said. “That’s what being in the military is all about. I would not have the freedom I have without those who served before me.”
St. Louis deployed from August through November 2025 in support of U.S. Northern Command’s mission to restore territorial integrity at the U.S. southern border. St. Louis reinforced the nation’s commitment to border security by enhancing maritime efforts and supporting interagency collaboration.
The ship’s deployment highlighted the Department of War and Navy’s dedication to national security priorities, contributed to a coordinated and robust response to combat maritime-related terrorism, weapons proliferation, transnational crime, piracy, environmental destruction and illegal seaborne immigration.
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