It has been correctly pointed out that there was never a real guided missile cruiser named the Montana. But there *could* have been. The actual CGN-42 was planned, but it was canceled before construction, and it was never assigned a name. If it had gotten a name, it would have been named for a state, and therefore could have been named Montana. The number CGN-42 was never used. Interestingly, there were two different battleships that were assigned the name Montana, but both of them were canceled, one during construction and the second before construction ever began. In the future there will be a ship in service with the name: the U.S.S Montana (SSN-794), a Virginia-class nuclear powered cruise-missile attack submarine, was laid down in May of 2018, construction was finished in February of 2021 and she was formally commissioned in the Navy on June 25, 2022.
The ship seen in the episode that is supposed to be the USS Montana is actually footage of the USS Vincennes (CG-49), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser. She was launched April 14, 1984, commissioned on July 6, 1985, she participated in several major operations including Operation Earnest Will: the American defense of Kuwait-owned oil tankers from attack by Iranian forces in 1987 and 1988, which was the largest naval convoy since World War II; the Vincennes is best known for being involved in the destruction of Iran Air Flight 655, on July 3, 1988 while patrolling off the coast of Iran the Vincennes detected a distress call from a Pakistani merchant vessel under attack by two Iranian gunboats, as the Vincennes was still 50 miles out the CO, Captain Will Rogers III, launched the ship's Seahawk helicopter to investigate. The Seahawk arrived too late to be of help and the gunboats began to withdraw, the Seahawk followed them and crossed into Iranian airspace, the gunboats then fired on the Seahawk. Rogers ordered his ship to move to intercept the Seahawk and render aid, but while doing so the Vincennes also had moved into Iranian territorial waters, and upon doing so the gunboats took up attack positions. Rogers contacted the admiral in command of his fleet and requested permission to open fire, but failed to mention they were no longer in international waters, he was granted permission, and the Vincennes opened fire with her guns, destroying three gunboats and damaging a fourth. Right as this happened the Vincennes radar officer detected an approaching aircraft: Iran Air Flight 655, an Airbus A300 civilian airliner, however due to confusion and likely the fact this was his first time in combat the radar officer misidentified the Airbus as an Iranian F-14 Tomcat, he also mistakenly reported that the aircraft was descending in altitude, when it fact it was climbing. Captain Rogers, acting under the assumption that an enemy military aircraft was approaching his ship, ordered the ship's radio officer to warn the F-14 off, the message "Iranian F-14 *stated position relative to Vincennes, airspeed & altitude* this is United States Naval warship number 49, change your heading an increase altitude immediately or you will be subject to defensive action". This message was sent on both military and civilian channels, the pilot of the Airbus heard the message, but as it mentioned an F-14 in a dive he did not think his aircraft was the one being challenged so he didn't respond. The Vincennes made another 9 attempts to reach the aircraft on radio and warn it off, all the while the radar officer was incorrectly reporting the Airbus as a Tomcat and reporting that it was in dive and not a climb, as such when the Airbus approached what would be firing range for a typical anti-ship bomb Rogers ordered the plane to be fired on. The Vincennes fired two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles which hit the airliner dead center totally disintegrating the aircraft and killing all 290 passengers and crew. The Vincennes was eventually decommissioned on June 29, 2005 and was scrapped in 2011.
Another ship shown to be portraying the Montana is the USS Lake Champlain (CG-57), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser launched April 3, 1987 and commissioned August 12, 1988. The Lake Champlain is part of Carrier Group One and was deployed during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990 and 1991. She also aided in evacuating the Philippines during the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, while in port for upgrades in 2007 a small explosion occurred inside the hull due to flammable gases leaking into a compartment where a welding torch was being used, it caused minor damage to the hull and injured six dock workers. The Lake Champlain was involved in a minor at-sea collision in May of 2017 when a 60 foot South Korean fishing boat collided with the port side of the Champlain's hull during foggy weather, the boat had no radio and failed to heed the audio hails, neither vessel was damaged. The Lake Champlain is still in service as of October of 2022, although will likely be decommissioned and replaced by one of the new Flight III Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers planned for construction by 2030.
Petty Officer Lopez states that she previously served on the USS Cowpens, which is named after the Battle of Cowpens, a major American victory near Cowpens, South Carolina during the Revolutionary War. There have been two ships in the US Navy to carry that name: the first was the USS Cowpens (CVL-25) an Independence-class light aircraft carrier in service from 1943 to 1947 and fought in the Pacific campaign during World War II including the Battle of Iowa Jima. The second is the USS Cowpens (CG-63), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser launched March 11, 1989 and commissioned on March 9, 1991, in 1993 she was one of four ships that launched Tomahawk cruise missiles to destroy a nuclear production facility in Iraq. In 1994 she was part of the USS Kitty Hawk's (CV-63) carrier group during the North Korean Nuclear Crisis of that year, the carrier group was sent as part of a larger NATO strike group as a show of force when the country announced its intention to withdraw from the nuclear arms convention. In March of 2003 she was assigned to Carrier Group Five and was the first ship to launch ordinance during the opening attack of the Iraq War, firing Tomahawk cruise missiles to destroy an Iraqi chemical weapons depot. In 2013 she was put into dry-dock for refitting and modernization where her electronic warfare and weapon systems will be upgraded to modern standard and allow her to remain in service until at least 2040.
Other than a student-shot web-series episode a decade later, this was the last genuine acting credit of Sharon Farrell, who had a long career, mostly in movies but started on television shows in the early sixties, such as Gunsmoke opposite another future movie actor, Burt Reynolds.