The William P. Puller is one massive vessel. USN
Tyler Rogoway, The Drive: The Navy's Gargantuan New Sea Base Is On Its Way To The Middle East
A new age of sea basing has arrived for US military.
The highly modified Alaska class oil tanker, now dubbed Expeditionary Mobile Base USNS William P. "Chesty" Puller, left Norfolk on June 10th and is on its way to the Middle East with no return date in sight.
The deployment marks a new age in America's ability to be able to project persistent naval power abroad, and is the first time a purpose-built sea base has been fielded by the Pentagon.
The vessel is also a cousin to the Navy's Expeditionary Transfer Dock, which is based on the same core design but works as a massive ship-to-shore logistical conduit. Both classes of these purpose-built ships, as well as a shadowy second-hand transport vessel that is being modified into a special operations mothership, are part of the Department of Defense's long, but somewhat obscure history of sea basing. Most notably, sea bases hastily adapted from barges and logistical vessels worked as special operations platforms in Vietnam. During the Tanker Wars of the 1980s— under operation Prime Chance and Earnest Will—leased barges worked to support special operations detachments, mine sweeping operations, and interdiction efforts. They even acted as forward staging bases for MH-6 and AH-6 Little Birds, and later on OH-58D Kiowa Warriors, as well as other helicopters.
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WNU Editor: That is one big ship.
Hat tip to Fred for this link.
1 comment:
"Mine sweeping will likely be the ship's primary role in Middle East"
Why such a massive ship for mine sweeping? Plus. .are we still doing mine sweeping the old fashioned way? I'd expect satellite guided drone swarms launched from a nuclear powered drone mother ship remotely controlled by a dude in Texas who's more on snapchat at the same time. .. instead of this 20th century approach. ..what the f are we doing?
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