General Dynamics Inaugurates Third Mobile Landing Platform Ship

General Dynamics yesterday hosted a keel laying ceremony for the USNS Lewis B. Puller, the third ship in the Mobile Landing Platform (MLP) class.

The ship is named in honor of Lewis B. Puller; the most decorated U.S. Marine in history and the only one to be awarded five Navy Crosses.

MLP-3 is the first ship of the class to be configured as an Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB). Delivery is scheduled for the second quarter of 2015.

"This third Mobile Landing Platform ship, configured as an AFSB, will provide significant new capability to the Navy and Marine Corps' Maritime Prepositioning Force," said Fred Harris, president of General Dynamics NASSCO. "The NASSCO team will continue to efficiently build and deliver these ships to help strengthen the forward presence of the Navy."

The MLP AFSB is a flexible platform and a key element in the Navy's large-scale airborne mine countermeasure mission. The ship is designed to facilitate a wide variety of future mission sets in support of special operations.

With accommodations for 250 personnel and a huge helicopter flight deck, the MLP AFSB will provide a highly capable and affordable asset to the Navy and Marine Corps.