Scott Nicholas
General Dynamics‘ NASSCO subsidiary has kicked off construction of a follow-on mobile sea base for the U.S. Navy under a previously awarded contract.
The company said Thursday the fifth ship in the military branch’s Expeditionary Transfer Dock/ Expeditionary Sea Base program will be built with a 52,000-square-foot flight deck, accommodation areas for up to 250 personnel, repair, mission planning, fuel and equipment storage rooms.
ESB 5 will support sea-to-shore missions as well as serve as a “pier at sea” for MH-53, MH-60 and MV-22 aircraft platforms.
ESD and ESB ships, originally called Mobile Landing Platforms and MLP Afloat Forward Staging Bases, are designed to function as mobile sea bases for operations such as troop deployment and and equipment sustainment or distribution.
NASSCO has already delivered USNS Montford Point, USNS John Glenn and USNS Lewis B. Puller to the Navy and began work on USNS Hershel “Woody” Williams in October last year.
