The USNS Lewis B. Puller has sailed from Norfolk on its maiden voyage as an expeditionary sea base supporting the U.S. Fifth Fleet. The Puller is the first of two expeditionary sea bases. A sister vessel, the USNS Hershel “Woody” Williams is expected to enter service in 2018.
What is an expeditionary sea base? The Military Sealift Command (MSC) defines the type as: An afloat forward staging base-variant of the mobile landing platform designed to provide dedicated support for air mine countermeasures and special warfare missions. The ship is capable of executing additional missions including counter-piracy, maritime security, and humanitarian and disaster relief. The platform supports a variety of rotary wing aircraft.
In laymen’s terms, an expeditionary sea base appears to be a logistics base vessel with fuel, ammunition storage and repair facilities, which can also support helicopter and certain fixed wing planes. The Puller is the first purpose-built expeditionary sea base and is 784 feet long and features a 52,000 square-foot flight deck.
The Puller is expected to replace the USS Ponce, which at 46 years old is one of the Navy’s oldest vessels. Unlike the Ponce , which is armed with two Phalanx close-in weapon systems, a pair of 25mm Bushmaster chain guns and a semi-experimental laser weapon, the Puller does not have significant self-defense capabilities in weapons or electronic counter-measures. Critics have suggested that she may be vulnerable in a Persian Gulf deployment. There is speculation that modular or even vehicle mounted defenses could be installed on the ship at some future date.
Seems like a deployment of WWII equipment just to get rid of it.
I stand corrected. Her keel was laid in 2013. Yet she looks like a throwback to precomputer age.
Definitely an odd ship.
What a joke! These vessels were built for one reason and one reason only. To keep NASSCO in business until they could generate some other revenue via commercial business or another taxpayer rip off program. These vessels have zero capability as compared to what is available commercially at one third of the cost. The ship was built years ago and has been sitting around doing NOTHING. Talk to the folks who work on this ship. The U.S. Navy does not know how to design, order and build ships.
The idea of a Heavy Repair/Base ship is not new but allows a degree of flexibility that a fixed base may not. A shame that the USN will never construct a base support ship of the likes of HMS Menestheus, operating cinemas, chapels and quite uniquely, a Brewery capable of producing some 250 barrels of beer weekly! Given that no navy is in permanent combat, this new ship could well meet a wide range of needs in service.