USS Billings back in Mayport after first deployment

By Diana Stancy Correll Nov 3, 02:38 AM

An MH-60S Seahawk helicopter attached to the “Snowmen” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28, Detachment 5, takes off from the flight deck of the Freedom-variant littoral combat ship Billings for flight operations July 23. (MC2 Marianne Guemo/Navy)

The littoral combat ship Billings has wrapped up its first deployment and is back at its homeport in Mayport, Florida, after conducting counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean Sea and providing humanitarian relief to Haiti following a massive earthquake.

The littoral combat ship and embarked Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28, Detachment 5, kicked off the deployment on June 30 and arrived back in Mayport on Oct. 30.

Along with an embarked U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment, the Billings seized more than $111.8 million worth of cocaine and removed 13 suspected drug traffickers from the narcotics trade, the Navy said.

The Billings also pitched in to support Joint Task Force-Haiti after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck the island nation Aug. 14. An MH-60S Sea Hawk assigned to the helicopter squadron joined in to help move personnel and aid during the relief efforts, and the littoral combat ship also served as a refueling base for other task force aircraft.

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