There were screams — and laughter — and tears as the crew of the freedom-variant littoral combat ship returned to Naval Station Mayport on the tarmac, not a dock
Commander Jeff Gerring says this was the first time an LCS on the East Coast has done an overseas crew swap meaning this crew flew back to base.
“It’s unusual for a ship to come home on an airplane at an airport, but it’s fantastic and we love seeing the families here. A great experience,” he said. Sailors aboard the USS Billings returned home to their loved ones on Friday. There were screams — and laughter — and tears as the crew of the freedom-variant littoral combat ship returned to Naval Station Mayport.
The crew has been deployed for about four months doing counter drug operations in the Caribbean. The ship itself has been gone for a year.“We were the first ship to go back into Costa Rica in eight years, the first ship back into Cartagena, Colombia in almost five years,” Gerring said. “Reigniting those relationships as important regional partners is what we really excelled at.”And the baby, she said, was excited too.