USS ''Lewis B. Puller'' (ESB-3), (formerly USNS ''Lewis B. Puller'' (T-ESB-3), and (T-MLP-3/T-AFSB-1) prior to that) is the first purpose-built expeditionary mobile base vessel (previously classified as a mobile landing platform, and then as an afloat forward staging base) for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, and the second ship to be named in honor of

Chesty Puller Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller (June 26, 1898 – October 11, 1971) was a United States Marine Corps officer. Beginning his career fighting guerillas in Haiti and Nicaragua as part of the Banana Wars, he later served with distinction in World War ...

. She is the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of her class of expeditionary mobile bases and is also a sub-variant of the expeditionary transfer docks. ''Lewis B. Puller'' replaced (AFSB(I)-15) with the

U.S. Fifth Fleet The Fifth Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It has been responsible for naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and parts of the Indian Ocean since 1995 after a 48-year hiatus. It shares a commander and headq ...

in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

in fall 2017. ''Lewis B. Puller'' was commissioned on 17 August 2017 in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, with her prefix changing from

USNS United States Naval Ship (USNS) is the prefix designation given to non- commissioned ships that are property of the United States Navy (USN). Definition United States Naval Ships are unarmed auxiliary support vessels owned by the U.S. Navy ...

to USS and her hull designation changing from T-ESB-3 to ESB-3.

Background

The ''Lewis B. Puller''-class of expeditionary mobile base ships differ from the U.S. Navy's first two expeditionary transfer dock support vessels, and . These two ships act as floating bases or transfer stations that can be positioned off the target area. ''Lewis B. Puller'' and will serve as expeditionary mobile bases to support low-intensity missions. This allows more expensive, high-value

amphibious warfare ships An amphibious warfare ship (or amphib) is an amphibious vehicle warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines, on enemy territory during an amphibious assault. Specialized shipping can be divided into two types, most crud ...

and surface combatant warships to be re-tasked for more demanding operational missions for the U.S. Navy. These ESB variants are to operate in the Middle East and the Pacific Ocean. ''Lewis B. Puller'' was initially operated by the

Military Sealift Command Military Sealift Command (MSC) is an organization that controls the replenishment and military transport ships of the United States Navy. Military Sealift Command has the responsibility for providing sealift and ocean transportation for all US m ...

with the prefix "USNS" and a crew of Department of the Navy civilian mariners. She replaced USS ''Ponce'', the U.S. Navy's interim AFSB support ship.

Namesake

''Lewis B. Puller'' (ESB-3) is the second ship named after Marine Corps Lieutenant General Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller. The first was , an . A distinguished combat veteran of the

Banana Wars The Banana Wars were a series of conflicts that consisted of military occupation, police action, and intervention by the United States in Central America and the Caribbean between the end of the Spanish–American War in 1898 and the inception ...

, World War II and the Korean War, Puller is the most decorated individual in the history of the United States Marine Corps.

Ship re-designation

On 4 September 2015, U.S. Secretary of the Navy

Ray Mabus Raymond Edwin Mabus Jr. (; born October 11, 1948) is an American politician and lawyer. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2017. Mabus previously served as the State Auditor ...

announced a new ship designator: "E" for expeditionary support. Mobile Landing Platforms (MLPs) will be designated Expeditionary Transfer Docks, or ESDs; and the Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) variant of the MLP will be called Expeditionary Mobile Bases, or ESBs. The new designation followed a 31 August 2015 memorandum sent to Mabus by

Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the professional head of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the secretary of the Navy. In a separate capacity as a memb ...

Admiral

Jonathan Greenert Jonathan William Greenert (born May 15, 1953) is a former United States Navy admiral who served as the 30th Chief of Naval Operations from September 23, 2011, to September 18, 2015. He previously served as the 36th Vice Chief of Naval Operations ...

Design features

The design of ''Lewis B. Puller'' is based on the hull of the civilian . ''Lewis B. Puller'' can be outfitted with support facilities for her

minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of the removal of explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that ...

, special operations, and other expeditionary missions. An accommodation barge can be carried to support up to 298 more people, including special-operations teams. ''Lewis B. Puller''s

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters ...

has landing spots for four heavy-lift transport

CH-53 The CH-53 Sea Stallion (Sikorsky S-65) is an American family of heavy-lift transport helicopters designed and built by the American manufacturer Sikorsky Aircraft. It was originally developed in response to a request from the United States N ...

helicopters, plus deck space for two more CH-53s. The ship has a helicopter

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

, an ordnance storage magazine, underway replenishment facilities, and deck space for mission-related equipment storage, including up to four Mk 105 minesweeping

hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

sleds.

GE Power Conversion GE Power Conversion is an electrical engineering company and is a subsidiary of GE Power, part of General Electric. GE Power Conversion's global headquarters is located in the Paris-Saclay research-intensive and business cluster, south of Paris ...

will provide complete electric power, propulsion, and vessel automation systems for all ESB/ESD ships. This integrated power system (IPS) will also involve the ship's tandem propulsion motor powered by

variable-frequency drive A variable-frequency drive (VFD) is a type of motor drive used in electro-mechanical drive systems to control AC motor speed and torque by varying motor input frequency and, depending on topology, to control associated voltage or current variat ...

harmonic filter A power conditioner (also known as a line conditioner or power line conditioner) is a device intended to improve the quality of the power that is delivered to electrical load equipment. The term most often refers to a device that acts in one or ...

s, and high-voltage switchboards. Unlike the ESDs that lower the entire ship until their boat decks are awash, ESBs use cranes to raise and lower small boats of up to to the water from their mission deck. ''Lewis B. Puller'' is the first non-combatant ship equipped with the Navy's N-30 class passive fire protection system.

Embarked aircraft

The ship is equipped to support United States Air Force CV-22s on special ops missions. Feasibility tests began in 2014 and the capability was added before the ship's 2017 maiden deployment. The testing and certification of MH-53E helicopters for minesweeping operations from ESB support ships began in fiscal year 2016. The

F-35B The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather Stealth aircraft, stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both Air superiority fighter, air superiority and attack ...

STOVL A short take-off and vertical landing aircraft (STOVL aircraft) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is able to take off from a short runway (or take off vertically if it does not have a heavy payload) and land vertically (i.e. with no runway). The ...

strike fighter does not fly from ESBs because its exhaust heat might damage the deck, Captain Henry Stevens, the head of

NAVSEA The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is the largest of the United States Navy's five "systems commands," or materiel (not to be confused with "material") organizations. From a physical perspective, NAVSEA has four shipyards for shipbuilding, c ...

's Strategic and Theater Sealift program, said on 16 January 2014.

History

Construction

The United States Navy ordered T-ESB-3 in February 2012 as part of the Fiscal Year 2013 appropriation for the

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...

via the National Defense Sealift Fund (NDSF). The

keel-laying Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

ceremony for ''Lewis B. Puller'' took place at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, California, on 5 November 2013. The

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

of ''Lewis B. Puller'' was authenticated by Elizabeth Glueck, the wife of

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Kenneth J. Glueck, Jr., the commanding general of the

Marine Corps Combat Development Command Marine Corps Combat Development Command (MCCDC), located at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Prince William County, Virginia, has the mission of supporting the development of future operational concepts and the determination of how to best organize, ...

. Mrs. Glueck welded her initials onto a steel plate that will be permanently affixed to the ship, remaining a part of ''Lewis B. Puller'' throughout her service life. ''Lewis B. Puller'' was launched and floated-off at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard on 6 November 2014. The launching dock was slowly flooded with water until she could freely float by herself. The ship was christened on 7 February 2015, and she was delivered on 12 June 2015. ''Lewis B. Puller'' set sail from San Diego to Norfolk via

Cape Horn Cape Horn ( es, Cabo de Hornos, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which are the Diego Ramírez ...

, arriving 13 October 2015 to begin her testing and evaluation phase. The ship is currently configured for minesweeping support but is also under consideration to support special operations forces (SOF) missions. ''Lewis B. Puller'' is slated to join the

in the

in late 2016 or early 2017. On 14 January 2016, the Secretary of the Navy announced that ''Lewis B. Puller''s sister-ship would be named ''Hershel "Woody" Williams'' (T-ESB-4) during a ceremony in Charleston, West Virginia.

Deployment

On 10 July 2017, ''Lewis B. Puller'' left from Naval Station Norfolk for her first operational deployment to the U.S. 5th Fleet's area of operations. The ship will be permanently deployed overseas; maintenance, repairs and crew swaps will take place in theater.

Commissioning

''Lewis B. Puller'' was commissioned on 17 August 2017 at Khalifa bin Salman Port in

Al Hidd :''To be distinguished from Ras al Hadd (رأس الحد), a district with a famous turtle breeding beach in Oman'' Al Hidd ( ar, الحد; transliterated: Al-Ḥidd) is a town in Bahrain, located on a sand spit on the southeastern extremity of Muh ...

, with her prefix changing from

to USS, becoming the first U.S.-built ship to be commissioned outside the United States. The change was required by the

Law of Armed Conflict International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by prot ...

, which says that only a warship may do certain activities, such as mine-countermeasures and

special operations Special operations (S.O.) are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment". Special operations may include ...

staging. Her

hull classification The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol (sometimes called hull code or hull number) to identify their ships by type and by ind ...

also changed from T-ESB-3 to ESB-3, indicating she was to be crewed by U.S. Navy sailors rather than civilian mariners.

Operations

''Lewis B. Puller'' trained with the

amphibious ready group An amphibious ready group (ARG) of the United States Navy consists of a naval element—a group of warships known as an Amphibious Task Force (ATF)—and a landing force (LF) of U.S. Marines (and occasionally U.S. Army soldiers), in total about ...

(ARG), during Alligator Dagger 2017 to explore the potential of the ESB platform to support such operations. In November 2018, a detachment from Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 15 deployed on ''Lewis B. Puller'' for training. In March 2020,

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

AH-64 The Boeing AH-64 Apache () is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night visi ...

Apache attack helicopters conducted deck landing qualifications with ''Lewis B. Puller''. While conducting this exercise, on 15 April 2020, 11 Iranian patrol vessels started circling ''Lewis B. Puller'' and surrounding US Navy and Coast Guard vessels. The boats got within of the ship and would not leave despite repeated radio warnings and noise makers. The incident lasted for an hour until the Iranian vessels pulled away. Video of the incident was posted by the US Navy. At a Pentagon press briefing on 24 April 2023, a spokesperson stated that was "... off the coast of Sudan, near the Port of Sudan. It will stay there awaiting further orders should it be needed to support. Also, en route is the USS ''Puller''."

Footnotes

References

External links

Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) – Afloat Forward Staging Base
– GlobalSecurity.org
Keels Laid for Future USS ''John Finn'' and USNS ''Lewis B. Puller''
- U.S. Navy

-

Naval History & Heritage Command The Naval History and Heritage Command, formerly the Naval Historical Center, is an Echelon II command responsible for the preservation, analysis, and dissemination of U.S. naval history and heritage located at the historic Washington Navy Yard. ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis B. Puller (ESB-3) Lewis B. Puller-class expeditionary mobile base Montford Point-class mobile landing platforms Amphibious warfare vessels of the United States 2014 ships