USNS Millinocket

USNS Millinocket (JHSV-3/T-EPF-3) (ex-Fortitude) is the third Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport, which is operated by the United States Navy's Military Sealift Command and was built in Mobile, Alabama.[3][4]

USNS Millinocket
USNS Millinocket approaching Kiribati in 2015
History
United States
NameMillinocket
NamesakeMillinocket
OperatorMilitary Sealift Command
Awarded28 January 2010[1]
BuilderAustal USA[1]
Laid down3 May 2012[1]
Launched5 June 2013[1][2]
In service21 March 2014[1]
Renamedfrom Fortitude
ReclassifiedT-EPF-3, 2015
Identification
Motto
  • Labor, Ingenium, Perseverantia
  • (Work, Talent, Perseverance)
StatusActive
General characteristics
Class and typeSpearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport
Length103.0 m (337 ft 11 in)
Beam28.5 m (93 ft 6 in)
Draft3.83 m (12 ft 7 in)
Propulsion
  • 4 × MTU 20V8000 M71L diesel engines
  • 4 × ZF 60000NR2H reduction gears
Speed43 knots (80 km/h; 49 mph)
Troops312
Crew41
Aircraft carriedMedium helicopter
Aviation facilitiesHelipad

Capabilities

The EPF can transport US Army and US Marine Corps company-sized units with their vehicles, or reconfigure to become a troop transport for an infantry battalion.[3]

It has a flight deck for helicopter operations and a loading ramp that allows vehicles to quickly drive on and off the ship. The ramp is suitable for the types of austere piers and quay walls common in developing countries. EPF has a shallow draft (under 15 feet (4.6 m)).[3]

Construction and career

On 30 May 2012, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced in Fall River, Massachusetts that the third Expeditionary Fast Transport, previously having been named Fortitude by the United States Army before the transfer of the EPF program to the Navy, would be named USNS Millinocket. Since the ship will be operated by the Military Sealift Command and not the United States Navy itself, it will carry the USNS designation and not USS.[5] The ship is the second U.S. Navy vessel to be named Millinocket (after the town in Maine), the first being a freighter sunk by a U-boat in 1942.[6][7]

The ship is laid down on 3 May 2012 and launched on 5 June 2013 by Austal USA. She was commissioned on 21 March 2014.

In 2016 Millinocket will transport items to test with Fort Worth the LCS expeditionary maintenance capability.[8]

References
  1. "Millinocket". Naval Vessel Register. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  2. "Navy's Third Joint High Speed Vessel Launched". Navy News Service. 6 June 2013. NNS130606-10.
  3. Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV), USN. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  4. Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV), globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  5. "Secretary of the Navy Names Joint High Speed Vessel USNS Millinocket". U.S. Department of Defense. Washington, DC. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  6. Sambides, Nick Jr. (30 May 2012). "Navy names ship after 2 Katahdin region towns". Bangor Daily News. Bangor, ME. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  7. "Future USNS Millinocket (JHSV 3) completes builder's sea trials". 20 December 2013.
  8. Mahadzir, Dzirhan (2 December 2015). "USS Fort Worth achieves objectives, learns lessons as it continues Asia-Pacific deployment". janes.com. IHS. Retrieved 8 December 2015.

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