AMPHIBIOUS ASSAULT SHIPS
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BRIEFING: The command ships USNS Coronado and USS Mount
Whitney in 2004 were the first commissioned Navy warships
with crews that included U.S. civilian mariners from Military
Sealift Command (MSC) as well as Navy Sailors, under the
command of a U.S. Navy captain. Mount Whitney serves as
flagship for commander, Naval Forces Europe/U.S. Sixth Fleet.
Coronado has been disposed of. USS Blue Ridge, sister ship of
Mount Whitney, serves with an all-Navy crew as the Seventh
Fleet flagship forward deployed to Japan. (See the MSC Ships
section for description and characteristics.)
AFLOAT FORWARD STAGING
BASE (INTERIM) (AFSB(I))
BRIEFING: USS Ponce, slated for decommissioning in March
2012 after 40 years of service as an LPD, was instead refitted
and converted to become an interim Afloat Forward Staging
Base ship with a mixed Sailor and civilian mariner crew. Ponce
is forward deployed to Bahrain. (See the MSC Ships section for
description and characteristics.)
MISCELLANEOUS SHIPS
MINE COUNTERMEASURES SHIPS (MCM)
BRIEFING: The Avenger-class ships are dual-role vessels
intended to act as minesweepers and minehunters, able to
find and destroy moored and bottom mines. Their composite
construction hulls significantly reduce magnetic and acoustic
signatures, and their sophisticated mission payload systems
meet rigorous shock qualifications. The class will be replaced
by LCSs, but because of delays in developing and fielding the
LCS and their mine mission modules, the ships have been
upgraded and modernized. Increased operational demand for
MCMs in the Persian Gulf in 2012 also led to improved material support for all the ships.
In 2009, with the closure of Naval Station Ingleside, Texas,
two MCMs were shifted to Sasebo, Japan, to join two others,
while six MCMs were transferred to San Diego. In 2012, four
MCMs were deployed to Bahrain, scheduled for seven months
of operations; two were extended in the Persian Gulf through
2013, manned by crews of Individual Augmentee Sailors on a
one-year tour. The additional ships have since returned.
Guardian was decommissioned and stricken from the naval
registry on Feb. 15, 2013, after grounding on a reef off Palawan
in the Philippines. The ship was dismantled on the scene.
Warrior shifted homeport from San Diego to Sasebo, Japan,
to replace Guardian. Sentry and Devastator replaced Scout and
Ardent in Bahrain during October 2013. Avenger and Defender
were decommissioned Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 2014, respectively,
and replaced in Sasebo in May 2014 by Pioneer and Chief.
Avenger Class
DISPLACEMENT: . . . . . . . . . 1,312 tons full load
LENGTH: ................224feet
BEAM:................... 39 feet
SPEED: .................. 14 knots
PROPULSION PLANT: . . . . 4 diesels, 2 shafts, 2,400 bhp
AIRCRAFT:...............none
ARMAMENT: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . mine neutralization system, 2 .50-caliber machine guns
COMPLEMENT: . . . . . . . . . . 8 officers, 76 enlisted
BUILDERS:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MCMs 3, 6, 8-14, Peterson Builders; MCMs 4, 7,
Marinette Marine
Homeport
MCM 3 Sentry ............................................ Manama, Bahrain
MCM 4 Champion .......................................... San Diego, Calif.
MCM 6 Devastator ........................................ Manama, Bahrain
MCM 7 Patriot ............................................... Sasebo, Japan
MCM 8 Scout .............................................. San Diego, Calif.
MCM 9 Pioneer .............................................. Sasebo, Japan
MCM 10 Warrior ............................................. Sasebo, Japan
MCM 11 Gladiator ........................................ Manama, Bahrain
MCM12Ardent ........................................... San Diego, Calif.
MCM 13 Dextrous ........................................ Manama, Bahrain
MCM 14 Chief ............................................... Sasebo, Japan
SUBMARINE TENDERS
BRIEFING: The submarine tender USS Emory S. Land transferred
to MSC in 2008, USS Frank Cable was transferred in February
2010. Operated by MSC, the sub tenders, like the command ships,
have hybrid crews of uniformed Navy personnel and civilian
mariners serving under the leadership of a U.S. Navy captain.
This allows the ships to retain their commissioned status. (See
the MSC ships section for description and characteristics.)
FAST SEA FRAME
BRIEFING: Sea Fighter is an experimental, high-speed vessel
developed by the Office of Naval Research. The aluminum catamaran is testing a variety of technologies that will allow the
Navy to operate in littoral waters. Sea Fighter also is used to
evaluate the hydrodynamic performance, structural behavior,
mission flexibility and propulsion system efficiency of high-speed vessels.
Sea Fighter carries mission modules, housed in standard
20-foot containers, in a large, climate-controlled mission bay.
The mission bay can accommodate 12 containers, permitting
the vessel to be quickly reconfigured for experimentation to
support a variety of potential missions, including battle-force
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CHAMPION AVENGER CLASS
