Name USNS Choctaw County Laid down 8 November 2011 Status in active service Launched 1 October 2012 Builder Austal | Awarded 28 January 2010 In service 6 June 2013 Construction started 8 November 2011 Length 103 m | |
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Operator Military Sealift Command | ||
USNS Choctaw County (T-EPF-2), (formerly JHSV-2), (ex-Vigilant) is the second Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport, which is part of the United States Military Sealift Command and was built in Mobile, Alabama.
On 6 October 2011, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced in Ackerman, Mississippi that the second Expeditionary Fast Transport, previously having been named Vigilant by the United States Army before the transfer of the EPF program to the Navy, would be named USNS Choctaw County. 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. The ship is named for three U.S. counties, located in Mississippi, Alabama and Oklahoma.
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.
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)).