Name USNS Millinocket Laid down 3 May 2012 Status in active service Launched 5 June 2013 Builder Austal USA | Awarded 28 January 2010 In service 21 March 2014 Construction started 3 May 2012 Length 103 m | |
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Operator Military Sealift Command | ||
USNS Millinocket (T-EPF-3), (formerly JHSV-3), (ex-Fortitude) is the third Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport, which is part of the United States Military Sealift Command and was built in Mobile, Alabama.
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. 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.
In 2016 Millinocket will transport items to test with Fort Worth the LCS expeditionary maintenance capability.
In 2015, NAVSEA announced that the Millinocket will be the sea trials platform for the U.S. Navy's prototype railgun at some point in 2016.
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)).