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THE SHIP
ABOUT

The new USS Billings is one of the Navy’s newest warships. It was built in Marinette, Wisconsin and is a Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) that will operate in waters close to the shore. The vessel also has a helicopter pad, a ramp for small boats and can be used by small assault forces.

While the USS Billings is the 15th in the class of fast and versatile Littoral Combat Ships, it is the first time that Billings has been honored as a namesake city.

USS Billings LCS 15 Facebook Page
CROSS SECTION
CHARACTERISTICS
Class and Type: Freedom-Class Littoral Combat Ship
Displacement: 3,500 metric tons (3,900 t) (full load)
Length: 378 feet (115 m)
Beam: 57.4 feet (17.5 m)
Draft: 13.8 feet (4 m)
Installed Power: Electrical: 4 Isotta Fraschini V1708 diesel engines, Hitzinger generator units, 800 kW each
Propulsion: 2 Rolls-Royce MT30 36 MW gas turbines, 2 Colt-Pielstick diesel engines, 4 Rolls-Royce waterjets
Speed: 45 knots (83 km/h; 52 mph) (sea state 3)
Range: 3,500 nmi (6,500 km) at 18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h)
1,500 nmi (2,800 km) at 50 knots (58 mph; 93 km/h)
4,300 nmi (8,000 km) at 20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h)
Endurance: 21 days (336 hours)
Boats and Landing Craft: 11 m RHIB, 40 ft (12 m) high-speed boats
Complement: 15 to 50 core crew, 75 with mission crew (Blue and Gold crews)
Armament: BAE Systems Mk 110 57 mm gun
RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile Surface-to-Air Missiles
Honeywell Mk 50 Torpedo
NETFIRES PAM missile in the ASuW module
2x .50-cal guns
Aircraft Carried: 2x MH-60R/S Seahawk
MQ-8 Fire Scout
FROM THE GROUND UP
  • Over 100 miles of electrical and fiber optic cable.
  • 1,000 tons of aluminum, 2,000 tons of steel.
  • 4 waterjets, that together pump over 1,976,000 gallons of water per minute (the equivalent of draining an Olympic size swimming pool in 20 seconds) at full power
  • Two Rolls-Royce MT30 gas turbine engines producing a total of 96,000 horsepower.  A direct derivation of the Trent 800 engines that power a Boeing 777; provide more horsepower than:
    • 223 Chevrolet Corvettes
    • 457 Ford Mustangs
    • 580 Harley Davidson VRXSE Destroyer V-Rod Destroyer Drag Racing Motorcycles
  • Two 16-cylinder Fairbanks Morse propulsion diesel engines, each displacing 5,200 liters (317,952 cubic inches) for a combined 17,370 horsepower.  Derived from railroad locomotives, these engines together produce more power than 35 semi-trucks
  • LCS FREEDOM variant power-to-weight ratio: 38 horsepower per ton.  Compares to:
    • DDG 51 Class Destroyer: 11 horsepower per ton
    • CVN 68 Class Aircraft Carrier: approximately 3 horsepower per ton.
  • Unique maneuverability to:
    • accelerate from 0 to 40+ knots in under 2 minutes
    • decelerate from 40+ to 0 knots in about 3 ship lengths
    • move directly sideways at 1 knot
    • rotate 360° while standing still in 3 minutes
BY THE NUMBERS
1,976,000
Number of gallons per minute that go through the ship’s 4 waterjets can fill an Olympic sized swimming pool in 20 seconds
250,000
Total number of nautical miles LCS Ships have transited
12,500
Total number of jobs supported by the LCS BILLINGS
1,000
Total number of tracks the new radar can handle simultaneously
360
Average cost in millions for 10 ships under the block buy contract
150
Percent increase in number of ports LCS shallow draft enables
98
Total crew berthing – less than half the number for the Frigate it replaces
96
Maximum number of hours to swap out a warfighting mission package... most swaps conducted in less than 24 hours
45
USS BILLINGS' top speed in knots...fastest surface combatant in the fleet
42
Number of states with LCS BILLINGS suppliers
40
Reconfigurable shipboard space in BILLINGS' hull for future missions
5
Number of Freedom-variant LCS Ships delivered to the U.S. Navy