USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB-3)
_at_Naval_Station_Norfolk_on_20_April_2016.JPG)
Lewis B. Puller at Naval Station Norfolk in April 2016
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| History | |
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 United States
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| Namesake: | Lewis B. Puller, Sr. |
| Awarded: | February 2012 |
| Builder: | NASSCO – San Diego, California |
| Cost: | $134.9 million US$ (FY 2014) |
| Laid down: | 5 November 2013 |
| Launched: | 6 November 2014 |
| Sponsored by: | Martha Puller Downs |
| Christened: | 7 February 2015 |
| Acquired: | 12 June 2015 |
| Commissioned: | 17 August 2017 |
| Identification: |
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| Status: | Active, in commission |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | Approx. 78,000 long tons (87,000 short tons) fully loaded |
| Length: | 764 ft (233 m) |
| Beam: | 164 ft (50 m) |
| Draft: | 25.5 ft (7.8 m) |
| Installed power: | Diesel-electric |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) |
| Range: | 9,500 nautical miles (17,600 km; 10,900 mi) |
| Boats & landing craft carried: |
Accommodation barge (298 mission-related personnel max.) |
| Complement: | 5 officers, 96 enlisted, and 44 merchant mariners |
| Armament: | 12 x .50 caliber machine gun stations |
| Aircraft carried: | Up to 4 CH-53 heavy-lift transport helicopters |
| Aviation facilities: | Helicopter landing deck and hangar |
| Notes: | Afloat forward staging base variant |
USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB-3), (formerly USNS Lewis B. Puller (T-ESB-3)), (formerly T-MLP-3/T-AFSB-1) is the first purpose-built Expeditionary Mobile Base (previously Mobile Landing Platform, then Afloat Forward Staging Base) vessel for the United States Navy. It's one of two Expeditionary Mobile Base (ESB) variants of the U.S. Navy's planned fleet of Expeditionary Transfer Dock vessels.Lewis B. Puller replaced USS Ponce (AFSB-(I)-15) with the U.S. Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf in Fall 2017.
The Lewis B. Puller was commissioned on 17 August 2017 in Bahrain, with its prefix changing from USNS to USS and its hull designation changing from T-ESB-3 to ESB-3.
Lewis B. Puller and its sister ship Hershel "Woody" Williams (T-ESB-4) will differ significantly from the U.S. Navy's first two Expeditionary Transfer Dock support vessels, Montford Point (T-ESD-1) and John Glenn (T-ESD-2). These two ships act as a floating base or transfer station that can be prepositioned off the target area.Lewis B. Puller and Hershel "Woody" Williams will serve as Expeditionary Mobile Bases to support a variety of low-intensity missions. This allows more expensive, high-value amphibious warfare ships and surface combatant warships to be re-tasked for more demanding operational missions for the U.S. Navy. These ESB variants are slated to operate in the Middle East and the Pacific Ocean.
Lewis B. Puller was operated by the Military Sealift Command and designation prefix was "USNS." The crew consist of Department of the Navy civilian mariners . Lewis B. Puller is intended to replace USS Ponce, the U.S. Navy's interim AFSB support ship.
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