CUMBERLAND − It started with a boating license and some teenage fun along the Blackstone River.
Before long, Ryan Billington, of Cumberland, was a crew member aboard the Blackstone Valley Explorer riverboat and after that, he was bound for the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
At one point in 2000, he helmed Renaissance, a European-style ferry boat, taking sightseers to marvel at seals on Narragansett Bay.
The boats – and the responsibilities – have gotten bigger since then. Much bigger.
Billington is a U.S. Navy captain now, and last month in San Diego the 46-year-old took command of a 684-foot, 25,000-ton warship that supports amphibious assaults, the USS John P. Murtha. The Murtha can deliver a landing force of almost 700 Marines, according to the Navy.
The surface fleet
Billington rose through the Navy ranks as the Murtha’s construction was planned in the 2000s and the ship was acquired by the Navy in 2016. Early on, aboard the USS Mount Vernon, he served as main propulsion division officer and electrical officer.