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USS Billings (LCS 15)

USS BILLINGS is the 17th littoral combat ship delivered and the 8th of the FREEDOM variant. She is the first ship in the Navy named for the city of Billings, Montana.

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Crew List:

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

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About the Ship's Coat of Arms:

Description:

Per bend wavy Argent (diapered Celeste) and Celeste, a bendlet wavy Or, between a torteau in sinister chief and a trident and sword in dexter base in saltire points upward of the third. All within a narrow bordure billetty Azure and Or. Issuant from a wreath of the colors Or and Azure, a compass (of eight points) Gules, fimbriated Argent, surmounting a celestial starburst, Celeste. On each side of the shield, a Crow war bonnet Proper. On a wavy curled scroll, Gules doubled Or, the inscription "BIG SKY OVER TROUBLED WATERS" Or.

Symbolism:

Dark blue and gold are traditional colors associated with the United States Navy. The gold trident is a traditional Navy symbol and also refers to King Neptune, God of the Sea. Placed over a blue field and next to a wavy gold line, the trident represents the Navy's commitment to projecting dominance over global waterways and readiness to defend our nation. The red "torteau" (and background) are taken from the flag of Billings, Montana. The billetty bordure evokes a heraldic pun for Frederick "Billings" and illustrates how his contributions were vital to the building of the city. The entire color scheme - blue, yellow, red and white - also reflects the colors often used in Indian bead work. The compass placed at the highest point represents navigation on the high seas. Surrounded by the celestial star burst, it alludes to celestial navigation and is synonymous with guidance from the North Star. The celestial theme is further echoed in the ship's motto, "BIG SKY OVER TROUBLED WATERS." The Crow war bonnet or headdress is inspired by the headdress on the flag of the Crow Nation. On the dexter side it represents the clan chiefs and on the sinister side, the clan on the mother's side. Both lend guidance, inspiration and protection to all tribal members. The Crow Indian Reservation is located in South Central Montana. The coat of arms as blazoned in full color on an off-white oblong disc field within a dark blue designation band, edged with a gold roped border and bearing the name "USS BILLINGS" at the top and "LCS 15" at the base.

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Accidents aboard USS BILLINGS:

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USS BILLINGS History:

USS BILLINGS is a FREEDOM-variant littoral combat ship built for operations in the littoral and open-ocean environments that dominated U.S. Navy planning in the early twenty-first century. Designed as the eighth FREEDOM-variant hull, she incorporates improvements over the lead ship, including an extended stern transom and added stern buoyancy tanks to improve stability and weight margins, and an expanded suite of automated sensors to support condition-based maintenance and reduce crew workload. She is the first U.S. Navy ship named for the city of Billings, Montana, reflecting the Navy's practice of associating the FREEDOM-variant ships with American communities.

The path to USS BILLINGS began on December 29, 2010, when Marinette Marine, the shipbuilder for the FREEDOM-variant under the Lockheed Martin team, received the contract to construct hull number LCS 15 at its yard in Marinette, Wisconsin. A few months later, on June 6, 2013, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus publicly announced that the ship would carry the name BILLINGS in honor of Montana's largest city, linking the future crew to a midwestern community far from the sea but with a strong record of support for the armed forces.

Steel fabrication and module construction for BILLINGS formally started at Fincantieri Marinette Marine on October 20, 2014, marking the beginning of her physical life on the Great Lakes. The ship's hull modules were assembled under the evolving FREEDOM-variant design that incorporated lessons from earlier hulls, particularly around stability and maintainability. By 2015, the keel had been laid, a traditional but now largely symbolic milestone for a modern modular warship, signifying that the major structural integration of the hull was underway.

By mid-2017, the hull and major systems were sufficiently complete to move to the water. On July 1, 2017, the Navy christened and launched BILLINGS at Marinette. The ceremony, held late on a Saturday morning, followed standard practice for FREEDOM-variant hulls. Sharla D. Tester, wife of Montana senator Jon Tester, served as the ship's sponsor and carried out the traditional act of breaking a bottle of sparkling wine across the bow. The christening and side-launch into the Menominee River symbolized the transition from a construction project to a ship preparing for trials. The Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin highlighted that the event brought another FREEDOM-variant hull one step closer to joining the fleet.

After launch, BILLINGS remained at Marinette for a lengthy fitting-out period while her combat systems, propulsion plant, and mission-package infrastructure were installed and tested alongside. During 2018, the shipyard and Navy test teams prepared her for the formal acceptance trials required before delivery. In early December 2018, she went to sea on Lake Michigan for these graded demonstrations. From December 7, 2018, a Board of Inspection and Survey team evaluated BILLINGS during in-port and underway phases, testing propulsion performance, maneuvering, and auxiliary systems under the FREEDOM-variant acceptance-trial regimen. NAVSEA reported on December 10 that the ship had successfully completed acceptance trials. The Navy's own independent INSURV annual report later noted that acceptance trials for pre-commissioning unit BILLINGS were completed in fiscal 2019 with strong scores and without serious starred deficiencies, indicating a comparatively solid material condition for a new FREEDOM-variant hull.

With trials complete, the ship moved to formal turnover. On February 1, 2019, the Navy held a delivery and acceptance ceremony at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine shipyard. On that date, the service formally accepted the future USS BILLINGS from the Lockheed Martin–Fincantieri team, transferring ownership from the builder to the Navy. Following delivery, BILLINGS remained in the Great Lakes region through the spring of 2019 as crews completed additional preparations for her commissioning and subsequent transit to the Atlantic. In June 2019, she began a southbound movement through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway system. As part of the Navy's outreach associated with new ships, she conducted a port visit to Cleveland, Ohio, giving residents of a major inland city an opportunity to tour a modern combatant and connect with the namesake of another inland community in Montana.

Continuing downriver later in June, BILLINGS entered the St. Lawrence Seaway and called at Montreal, Quebec, a common staging point for warships transitioning from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic. On June 24, 2019, while leaving Montreal, she made contact with the Canadian-flag bulk carrier ROSAIRE DESGAGNES. The allision damaged the starboard bridge wing of BILLINGS and became the subject of an investigation and significant media coverage, since the ship was newly delivered and not yet commissioned. The incident forced a pause in her transit schedule while damage was assessed and repairs arranged.

Once repairs and inspections were complete, BILLINGS continued south to her commissioning site. She arrived at Naval Air Station Key West in Florida in late July 2019, staging at the Truman Annex in preparation for the ceremony. On August 3, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, the Navy commissioned USS BILLINGS (LCS 15) at Key West, bringing her into full active service.

Shortly after commissioning, USS BILLINGS steamed north along the Florida coast to her operational homeport at Naval Station Mayport. On August 7, 2019, she arrived at Mayport, where local media noted that she became the sixth of a planned fourteen littoral combat ships to be based there. At Mayport, she joined other FREEDOM-variant hulls under Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two, beginning a period of post-delivery trials, combat-system certifications and crew training in local operating areas of the western Atlantic and Caribbean as the Navy worked to bring the expanding LCS force to a steady operational tempo.

In 2020, BILLINGS continued to mature as an operational unit, with her crew refining procedures for the modular mission-package concept and for operating the ship with the relatively small core crew typical of the LCS program. As with other FREEDOM-variant ships, this period focused on systems reliability, maintenance concepts and readiness for deployment, rather than on publicly highlighted overseas operations. The ship remained homeported at Mayport, part of the East Coast cluster assigned primarily to U.S. 4th Fleet and U.S. Southern Command-oriented missions in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.

By 2021, the Navy increasingly employed LCS in counter-narcotics and security-cooperation roles. USS BILLINGS also developed her relationship with her namesake community. On July 4, 2021, a contingent of her crew traveled to Billings, Montana, to participate in local Independence Day events. The visit reinforced the symbolic link between ship and city and provided an opportunity for Sailors to explain the LCS program and their ship's capabilities to residents whose city's name now appeared on a U.S. warship's stern.

Later that month, BILLINGS operated in the Caribbean region and conducted a passing exercise with the Dominican Republic Navy. On July 10, 2021, she took part in a PASSEX that allowed U.S. and Dominican naval units to practice basic seamanship, communications and maneuvering procedures together. Exercises of this type are a routine tool of U.S. maritime diplomacy.

In mid-August 2021, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck southwest Haiti, causing widespread damage and loss of life. In response, U.S. Southern Command organized a maritime and air relief effort under Joint Task Force-Haiti. On August 24, 2021, USS BILLINGS and the expeditionary fast transport USNS BURLINGTON (T-EPF 10) were dispatched to support the humanitarian mission. Operating in the waters off Haiti, BILLINGS contributed her flight deck, small-boat capability, and communications suite to help move assessment teams, support logistics and coordinate with other U.S. and international assets engaged in relief operations. Her participation illustrated the LCS concept's flexibility in shifting from security-cooperation and counter-drug roles to humanitarian assistance in the same regional theater.

Even as she supported Haiti relief, BILLINGS was preparing for a more structured deployment to U.S. 4th Fleet. The Navy employs a dual-crew concept on LCS hulls, and BILLINGS alternated between Blue and Gold crews to increase operational availability. On December 15, 2021, the ship, with the Blue Crew embarked, departed Naval Station Mayport for her second deployment, this time explicitly assigned to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility under U.S. 4th Fleet. A Navy photo from that date records her departure from Mayport, with an embarked helicopter detachment and a Coast Guard law-enforcement team, for extended counter-illicit-trafficking and security-cooperation operations in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific.

During this patrol, the Blue Crew of BILLINGS operated under Joint Interagency Task Force South, whose mission is to detect and monitor suspected narcotics trafficking in the Western Hemisphere. Embarked with the ship were the "Valkyries" of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28, Detachment 8, flying an MH-60S helicopter, and U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 403. Using the ship's speed, aviation detachment and boarding teams, BILLINGS contributed to the regional campaign against illicit trafficking, while also conducting bilateral exercises and exchanges with regional navies and coast guards.

After several months on station, BILLINGS reached Ponce, Puerto Rico, on April 12, 2022, for a planned maintenance availability following roughly a four-month Blue-Crew patrol. Ponce served as the site for a combined Planned and Continuous Maintenance Availability and for a rare overseas hull turnover between crews. On April 17, 2022, the Gold Crew arrived in Ponce to begin a detailed handover. Over the following days, Blue and Gold crews worked together to complete system checks, inspections and preparations. On April 22, 2022, the Gold Crew formally assumed responsibility for the hull, marking the first time an East Coast FREEDOM-variant LCS had executed a crew-swap and hull turnover outside the continental United States. This evolution underscored the Navy's effort to maximize on-station time for LCS while using the dual-crew concept to balance crew deployment lengths.

With maintenance complete and the new crew fully in place, USS BILLINGS departed Ponce on May 27, 2022, to resume operations in the U.S. 4th Fleet area. Under the Gold Crew, she continued to support Joint Interagency Task Force South, now with a surface-warfare mission-package load-out that included not only the MH-60S helicopter but also an MQ-8B Fire Scout unmanned aerial vehicle, enhancing her ability to search broad ocean areas for suspect craft. The ship's complement, now more than one hundred personnel when aviation and Coast Guard detachments were included, carried out further counter-trafficking missions and engagement activities with partner nations, reinforcing U.S. presence and cooperation in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. Throughout this period, BILLINGS remained operationally assigned to U.S. 4th Fleet and administratively part of Mine Division 22 under Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two.

From the beginning of 2023 USS BILLINGS remained homeported at Naval Station Mayport and spent an extended period alongside. On January 9, 2023, she shifted berths inside the base from Charlie Wharf to Wharf D4. On March 23, 2023, Commander Curtis L. Thomas II assumed command of the ship during a crew-combination ceremony held on board while she remained pier-side. In August 2024, she moved from Delta Wharf to the South Quay Wall at Mayport; on September 25, 2024 she shifted again to Wharf E1 and on September 28 she moved back to Wharf D4, still without leaving port.

After more than two years alongside, USS BILLINGS finally returned to sea on February 20, 2025, conducting a one-day underway in the Jacksonville operating area before mooring again at Wharf D4 on Naval Station Mayport. On April 7, 2025, she shifted to Wharf C2, got underway again on April 9, and on April 11 moored at Wharf A2. On April 16, she completed another day-long underway off Jacksonville and then moored outboard USS INDIANAPOLIS (LCS 17) at Wharf E3. Further short local operations followed, with underways from April 30 to May 2 and from May 13 to May 15.

On May 22, 2025, Commander Franklin Lemene relieved Commander Curtis L. Thomas II as commanding officer of USS BILLINGS during a change-of-command ceremony on board. Soon afterward the ship began a longer period at sea: on June 25, 2025, she moored at Wharf B1 at Mayport after a six-day underway in the Jacksonville operating area, then got underway again on June 27 and headed north, mooring at Pier 2N on Naval Station Newport from June 30 to July 3. On July 3, she left Newport and anchored about two nautical miles off Bristol, Rhode Island, for a three-day port visit to take part in local Independence Day celebrations, then continued south to Virginia, mooring at Pier 12N on Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story from July 7 to July 9. On July 11, she returned to Mayport and moored at Wharf A2, went to sea again on July 17, then on July 18 moored outboard USS COOPERSTOWN (LCS 23) at Wharf D2; by July 21 she was moored directly at Wharf D2. A brief additional underway followed on July 23. Inside Mayport she shifted to Wharf C2 on September 10 and went to sea again on September 11.

On September 13, 2025, LCS 15 moored at Berth 6, Pier 5 on Naval Station Norfolk for a four-day port call, then returned to Mayport, mooring at Wharf D2 on September 22, and was underway again on October 6. On October 9, USS BILLINGS moored outboard the preserved ex-USS NEW JERSEY (BB 62) at the Battleship NEW JERSEY Museum in Camden, New Jersey, for a week-long port visit in support of events marking the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Navy. After this ceremonial visit, she went back to Mayport, mooring at Wharf C2 on October 18 and moving to Wharf D3 on October 21. She sailed again on November 3 and, after returning, moored outboard USS MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL (LCS 21) at Wharf D2 on November 5. Further short local sorties followed from November 24 to November 25, and on December 3, 2025, after another day-long underway off Jacksonville, USS BILLINGS moored at Wharf B1 on Naval Station Mayport.

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