San Diego shipyard General Dynamics NASSCO announced Wednesday that it has been awarded a $106 million contract by the U.S. Navy to acquire materials to be used on a fifth ship in a class of vessels that allows the military to stage equipment near world hot spots.
The funding also will allow NASSCO to set up engineering support for Expeditionary Mobile Base (ESB) 5.
The shipyard has already built three ships for what used to be known as the Mobile Landing Platform Afloat Forward Staging Base program — the USNS Montford Point, USNS John Glenn and USNS Lewis B. Puller.
Construction on the fourth boat, the USNS Hershel “Woody” Williams, is underway, according to NASSCO.
NASSCO said the ESB is designed to serve as a flexible platform and a key element in the Navy’s airborne mine countermeasures mission. It can accommodate up to 250 personnel and a large helicopter flight deck.
—City News Service
