USNS ''Millinocket'' (JHSV-3/T-EPF-3) (ex-''Fortitude'') is the third , which is operated by the United States Navys

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 ...

and was built in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

.Joint High Speed Vessel (JHSV)
USN. Retrieved 12 March 2010.

Capabilities

The EPF can transport US Army and US Marine Corps

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

-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 ).

Construction and career

On 30 May 2012, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced in Fall River, Massachusetts that the third

Expeditionary Fast Transport The ''Spearhead''-class expeditionary fast transport (EPF) is a United States Navy–led shipbuilding program to provide a high-speed, shallow draft vessel intended for rapid intra-theater transport of medium-sized cargo payloads. The EPFs can r ...

, 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 Millinocket is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,114 at the 2020 census. Millinocket's economy has historically been centered on forest products and recreation, but the paper company closed in 2008. History ...

'' (after the town in Maine), the first being a freighter sunk by a U-boat in 1942. 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 Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

'' the LCS expeditionary maintenance capability.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Millinocket (EPF-3) Transports of the United States Navy 2013 ships Spearhead-class Joint High Speed Vessels