13417 [USN] Floating base ships to join Navy fleet,The amphibious transport dock Ponce, which was scheduled to be decommissioned in the coming months, will be retrofitted for the task

[NOTICIARIONAVAL]

Floating base ships to join Navy fleet

The amphibious transport dock Ponce, which was scheduled to be
decommissioned in the coming months, will be retrofitted for the task
By Christopher P. Cavas - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Jan 28, 2012 8:40:13 EST

Decades after the idea was broached for a floating, mobile base to
support operating forces in the Persian Gulf, the concept has suddenly
shifted into high gear, and a sense of urgency is driving both new
U.S. ship construction and conversion of an existing vessel.

A new Afloat Forward Staging Base is mentioned almost in passing
within the Pentagon budget briefing document made public Thursday.
Development funding will be provided, the document said, for a new
AFSB “that can be dedicated to support missions in areas where ground-
based access is not available, such as countermine operations.”

Elsewhere, under “industrial base skills,” the documents noted that,
“for example, adding the afloat forward staging base addresses urgent
operational shortfalls and will help sustain the shipbuilding industry
in the near-term and mitigate the impact of reducing ship procurement
in the” budget.

What is all this verbiage code for?

“This fulfills a long-standing requirement from U.S. Central Command,
going back to the Tanker Wars of the late 1980s,” said Capt. Chris
Sims, a spokesman for U.S. Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Va.

Sims was referring specifically to a recent decision to modify the
amphibious transport dock ship Ponce — which had been scheduled to be
decommissioned March 30 — into an interim AFSB able to support
minesweeping MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters.

The ship will be operated jointly by active-duty Navy officers and
sailors, and by government civilian mariners employed by Military
Sealift Command — a hybrid crew similar to those used on the Navy’s
two submarine tenders and the command ship Mount Whitney.

Beyond the conversion, though, the Navy now plans to build at least
one, and possibly two, AFSBs.

U.S. Navy officials would not publicly confirm the new construction,
but sources confirmed the service plans to modify the Mobile Landing
Platform design to take on the AFSB role.

Three MLPs have been funded for construction at the General Dynamics
National Steel and Shipbuilding shipyard in San Diego. The ships are
large, 765-foot-long vessels able to float off small landing craft,
tugs or barges.

For the AFSB role, a fourth MLP hull would be modified with several
decks, including a hangar, topped by a large flight deck able to
operate the heavy H-53s in the airborne mine countermeasures role.

But the AFSB will also be able to carry Marines, support patrol and
special operations craft, and fuel and arm other helicopters.

The ship is expected to be requested in 2014.

Sources also said the Navy might be considering modifying the third
MLP to the AFSB mission. Construction of that ship, funded in the 2012
defense bill, is being negotiated between NASSCO and the Navy.

Conversion of Ponce, meanwhile, is proceeding with alacrity. MSC
issued requests for proposal on Tuesday to upgrade and refit the ship.
Bids are to be submitted by Feb. 3, with work to begin in mid-month.
The RFPs state that sea trials are to be carried out in mid-April.

The work includes upgrading the ship’s navigation systems, bringing
habitability up to MSC standards and general refurbishment. No flight
modifications are planned at this time, said MSC spokesman Tim Boulay.

Fleet Forces Command also has begun solicitations for 50 Navy
personnel to help man the ship in its special mission role.

Ponce had returned to Norfolk from its final cruise Dec. 2, and
crewmembers had already begun the inactivation process when the order
came down to keep the ship running.

Use of the ship, Sims said, was “seen as an opportunity to fulfill
that longstanding CENTCOM request.”