WASHINGTON, 29 Feb. 2012. Military shipbuilders at the General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. in San Diego will build the mobile landing platform (MLP) ship USNS Lewis B. Puller for the U.S. Military Sealift Command in Norfolk, Va., under terms of a $359.8 million contract modification announced Monday.
The Puller will be the third of three Montford Point-class mobile landing platform auxiliary support ships that will be fitted with modern shipboard electronics, and serve as transfer stations or floating piers at sea to improve military equipment and cargo delivery from ships to shore when friendly bases are denied or don’t exist.
The Puller is named for U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, the most decorated U.S. Marine in history, and the only Marine to be awarded five Navy Crosses. During World War II in the Pacific, Puller led Marines on Guadalcanal and Peleliu. During the Korean war he took part in the Inchon landings, and led Marines at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.
The first two MLP ships of the Montford Point class -- the USNS Montford Point and USNS John Glenn, should be delivered to Military Sealift Command beginning in 2015. Construction on the USNS Montford Point began with the keel laying last month.
The MLP is to be about bout 800 feet long and built to commercial standards, not combat vessel standards. The vessel has three berthing spots for hovercraft, and transfers items to other ships with sideport ramps in waves as high as four feet.
Military Sealift Command is an organization of the U.S. Navy, and handles most of the Navy's replenishment and military transport ships, and is solely responsible for the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) ocean transport needs.
General Dynamics will do the work in San Diego; Pittsburgh; Beloit, Wis.; Crozet, Va.; Chesapeake, Va.; Belle Chasse, La.; and other sites inside and outside the continental U.S. Awarding the contract were officials of the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington.
For more information contact General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. online at www.nassco.com, Military Sealift Command at www.msc.navy.mil, or Naval Sea Systems Command at www.navsea.navy.mil.
