Catching the USS Billings

As I said in an earlier post, we were going to go to the Fort Wayne Air Show but looking at the weather didn't look promising.  It looked like it was supposed to thunderstorm most of the day in Fort Wayne.  I didn't want to drive all that way to find out that the air show was rained out.

As I looked at Facebook that morning, I saw a post that the USS Billings was on her way down.  So of course I had to look at my Marine Traffic app to confirm that.  So I headed up to Port Huron.  I figured rain wouldn't ruin boatwatching.

 The USS Billings (LCS-15) is the latest littoral combat ship to be built.  She was built up in Marinette, Wisconsin and will join the fleet at Naval Station Mayport in Florida.  There she will join Littoral Combat Ship Squadron Two.

 Her keel was laid down on November 27, 2015.  She was launched on July 1, 2017 and officially acquired by the Navy in February of this year.  She is the 8th Freedom Class Littoral Combat ship.  The other class of ships is built in the south somewhere and use a catamaran design.

 She is kind of a neat ship but the program has been plagued with issues.  I think the biggest issue is that they don't have the endurance they were supposed to have.

 The other issue is that if they run into a proper navy, they will probably get sunk.

 At any rate, there will be 8 more of these ships leaving the Great Lakes in the next few years.

 The next ship will be the USS Indianapolis.

 This particular ship is the first ship named after Billings, Montana.  That is kind of interesting because Billings is land locked.

 Billings is in southern Montana and is on the Yellowstone River.  It was founded as a railroad town and was named after Frederick Billings who was a president of the Northern Pacific railroad.  It currently has a little over 100,000 people.

 She makes her way down the river.

 Unlike other times, she is going to stop in Cleveland instead of Detroit.

 I think it will take her a couple weeks to get to her final destination.

Fair winds and following seas.