USS Ponce (LPD-15) : Afloat Forward Staging Base

"We are moving four more mine sweeps to the theater," [Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, told the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this month]. "That'll make eight. We are moving airborne mine countermeasure helicopters. That'll take us to eight in theater. And ... those, working with the British mine sweeps there, which we exercise with frequently, sets us up a little bit there."
Each of the ships - the USS Sentry (MCM 3), USS Devastator (MCM 6), USS Pioneer (MCM 9) and USS Warrior (MCM 10) - carries a crew of about 60. All are equipped to detect and neutralize mines.
The Navy this month also sent to the region four additional MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopters, which also have the capability to locate and destroy mines.
The Navy will also be sending the USS Ponce (LPD-15) to the region in the next few months to act as a floating staging base. Manned by a military and civilian crew, the vessel will provide refueling, resupply and maintenance operations for minesweepers, aircraft and patrol craft at sea in the region
The retrofit will transform the long-serving amphibious transport dock ship into an Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB-I) with a habitability structure to support a combined Navy/civil service mariner crew. Slated for deployment this summer, the modernized Ponce will provide maritime mobility, support and refueling capabilities in the U.S. Central Command Theater, an area that includes the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia.
[January 27]Lt. Cmdr. Mike Kafka, a spokesman for the Navy’s Fleet Forces Command, declined to elaborate on the floating base’s purpose or to say where, exactly, it will be deployed in the Middle East. Other Navy officials acknowledged that they were moving with unusual haste to complete the conversion and send the mothership to the region by early summer.

Kearsarge ARG: thru Canal, to Libyan Coast

Police say a gunman fired shots at U.S. soldiers on a bus outside Frankfurt airport March 2, killing two people and wounding two before being taken into custody.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ordered the amphibious attack ship USS Kearsarge and the USS Ponce, an amphibious transport dock to head to the coast of Libya. The two ships passed through the Suez Canal this morning. The Kearsarge is capable of holding 2000 marines.

On Monday the destroyer USS Barry sailed through the Suez Canal and is positioned the southwestern Mediterranean.

The White House stated that the warships are being dispatched to the region in preparation for possible humanitarian efforts but stressed it "was not taking any options off the table", which is diplomatic-speak signifying that military force is a possibility.

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Kearsarge ARG: 400 marines added plus Ponce

Kearsarge delivered 1,400 Marines to Afghanistan and was serving as the U.S. Central Command reserve force. To augment the Marines remaining on the ship, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ordered 400 Marines from the United States in support of the Kearsarge’s mission. The secretary has ordered the USS Kearsarge and the USS Ponce – now in the Red Sea – to the Mediterranean. The Navy vessels “will provide us with capability for both emergency evacuations and humanitarian operations,” he said.

USS Ponce (LPD-15)
Type: Amphibious transport dock
Tonnage: 7,713 tons dwt
Displacement: 9,201 tons (light)
16,914 tons (full)
Length: 548 ft (167 m)w/l
569 ft (173 m) o/a
Beam: 84 ft (26 m) w/l
105 ft (32 m) extreme
Draft: 22 ft (6.7 m) navigational,
34 ft (10 m) ballasted
Propulsion: 2 × boilers, 2 × steam turbines, 2 × shafts, 24,000 shp (18,000 kW)
Speed: 21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h)
Boats and landing
craft carried: 1 × LCAC, or
1 × LCU, or
4 × LCM-8, or
9 × LCM-6, or
24 × AAV
Complement: 24 officers, 396 enlisted, 900 marines
Armament: 2 × 25 mm Mk 38 guns
2 × Phalanx CIWS
8 × .50-calibre machine guns
Aircraft carried: Up to six CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters

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