Commissioned in 2004, the James E. Williams honors Boatswain's Mate First Class James Elliott Williams, a riverine warfare specialist in Vietnam who led two patrol boats in a sustained four-hour battle against far superior North Vietnamese forces in October 1966—destroying 65 sampans and killing scores of enemy—earning the Medal of Honor. Williams became one of the most decorated enlisted men in Navy history, also receiving the Navy Cross and multiple Silver Stars.