USS Ponce (LPD-15)

USS Ponce (AFSB-15)

In 2013, after AFSB conversion
History
United States
Name:	Ponce
Namesake:	Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ordered:	17 May 1965
Builder:	Lockheed Shipbuilding
Laid down:	31 October 1966
Launched:	20 May 1970
Commissioned:	10 July 1971
Homeport:	Norfolk, Virginia
Nickname(s):	Proud Lion
Status:	Active, In Commission
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Austin-class amphibious transport dock
Displacement:	8883 tons light, 16591 tons full, 7708 tons dead
Length:	173.7 m (570 ft) overall 167 m (548 ft) waterline
Beam:	30.4 m (100 ft) extreme 25.6 m (84 ft) waterline
Draft:	6.7 m (22 ft) maximum 7 m (23 ft) limit
Speed:	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement:	29 officers, 487 men
Armament:	8 × 0.5 in (12.7 mm) caliber gun mounts 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS 2 × 25 mm Mk 38 Mod 2[1] Laser Weapon System[2]

USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15) (/ˈpɒnseɪ/ PON-say), (formerly LPD-15), is an Austin-class amphibious transport dock of the United States Navy. Commissioned in 1971, she spent most of her career based on the East Coast and operating in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, serving in Operation Desert Shield and supporting US operations in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. It was intended that the ship would be decommissioned in 2012, but she gained a reprieve to be converted at short notice into a testbed for the Afloat Forward Staging Base concept, in which she would act as a base for mine-sweeping MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters in the Persian Gulf. Since the conversion, Ponce has been used to test other ideas and technologies, such as the Laser Weapon System and operating United States Army attack helicopters at sea.

Construction

Ponce is the only ship of the United States Navy that is named for Ponce in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which in turn was named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, the first governor of Puerto Rico and the European discoverer of Florida.

Her keel was laid down on 31 October 1966 by the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington. She was launched on 20 May 1970 sponsored by Florence W. Hyland, the wife of Admiral John J. Hyland, and commissioned on 10 July 1971.^[3]

1980s and 1990s

On 2 February 1982, during a towing exercise while en route to Portsmouth, England, Ponce collided with USS Fort Snelling, causing minor damage to Ponce's port side, mainly to the accommodation ladder and flight deck catwalk.

On 14 February 1984, while attempting to move an assault craft to Radio Island, near Morehead City, North Carolina, Ponce suffered major damage when her stern gate was damaged and eventually lost. She was later repaired in Philadelphia. Following the stern gate repairs, Ponce resumed her deployment, successfully loading the Marines and equipment off North Carolina's shores and heading for the Mediterranean, where she served as part of a multinational peacekeeping force, patrolling the shore off Beirut, Lebanon in the wake of the attack on the Marine barracks the previous October.^[4]

On 5 August 1990, as part of Operation Sharp Edge to remove US citizens caught up in the civil war in Liberia, Ponce, together with Saipan, Sumter, and Peterson, inserted a United States Marine Corps reinforced rifle company into the U.S. Embassy compound in Monrovia for increased security.

From June to December 1991, Ponce completed a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea, and was part of Operation Desert Shield and supported Operation Desert Storm.

In the first half of 1992, Ponce completed a four-month maintenance availability in Norfolk, Virginia. In June, she took on midshipmen for a training cruise off the Virginia Capes, which earned her the "CORTRAMID '92 Surface Warrior of the Week". In September, she arrived in Miami for Hurricane Andrew relief efforts. In October, she commenced counter drug operations in the Caribbean with a United States Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment on board.^[5]

On 17 March 1993, Ponce departed on a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in support of Operations “Deny Flight” and “Provide Promise”. She was accompanied by USS Saipan and USS Pensacola. During the deployment, she operated bilaterally with Greek units in exercise "Alexandros '93" and conducted amphibious landing exercises with the Tunisians in "Phiblex '93".

2000s

On 29 August 2001, Ponce crewmembers boarded two derelict Italian boats, a 19-foot (5.8 m) motorboat and a 12-foot (3.7 m) sailboat, in the Straits of Messina between Sicily and Calabria. The civilian vessels were adrift, creating a navigational hazard. A boarding party in a rigid hull inflatable boat found both derelicts unmanned, though the motorboat was well stocked. They towed both boats back to Ponce, which flooded her welldeck, brought the boats aboard, carried them into Catania, and turned them over to the Guardia Costiera (Italian Coast Guard).

On 10 January 2003, Ponce received orders to depart Norfolk, Virginia and take on Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. That duty kept Ponce at sea through February. At the end of February, she became the flagship of the Commander of Mine Countermeasure Squadron Three, designated as Commander, Task Group 55.4. The Task Group included a US Navy special clearance team, two explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) units, a detachment of MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters from Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron FOURTEEN (HM-14), a British unit and an Australian team. The ships involved included the mine coastal hunters Cardinal and Raven, mine countermeasure ships Ardent and Dextrous, and dock landing ship Gunston Hall.

After breaking the Squadron's pennant at her yardarm, Ponce's crew (and Gunston Hall's) enjoyed liberty ashore in Manama, Bahrain, beginning on 28 February. On 5 March, however, the amphibious ships got underway again. Humanitarian aid to Iraq was being blocked by naval mines in the Khawr Abd Allah river and the port of Umm Qasr. The weeks-long minesweeping operation was directed from Ponce, the flagship of the Task Group.

The Group used a variety of methods, including MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters towing magnetic minesweeping sleds, trained marine mammals, unmanned underwater vehicles and EOD divers. On 28 March a 200-yard (180 m)-wide channel was declared safe, and the British auxiliary vessel RFA Sir Galahad docked at Umm Qasr Port and began offloading hundreds of tons of food and water. Work continued for weeks after that, widening the channel.

On 25 March 2005, Ponce again departed Norfolk, deploying with the Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) for six months. Following a port visit to Augusta Bay, Sicily, Ponce spent three months in the Persian Gulf conducting operations in support of the global War on Terrorism. While in the Persian Gulf, she made port visits to Bahrain and Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates. Ponce departed the Persian Gulf in August 2005. On 19 August, Ponce was in the Gulf of Aqaba awaiting the underway movement of USS Ashland to allow Ponce to dock pier side. While Ashland was in the process the Katyusha rocket attack occurred on USS Kearsarge and Ashland, Ponce remained in the Persian Gulf for over a week in response to the attack. Ponce conducted port visits to Malta and Rota, Spain, before returning to Norfolk on 27 September.

2010s

Ponce returns in May 2011 from her last major deployment as an LPD, during the Libyan civil war

On 2 March 2011, Ponce, along with Kearsarge, traveled through the Suez Canal in response to the 2011 Libyan civil war.^[6]

Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet (C6F) relieved the commanding officer and executive officer of Ponce on 23 April 2011. As a result of a hazing inquiry, Vice Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr., relieved Commander Etta Jones, Ponce's commanding officer, due to demonstrated poor leadership, and failure to appropriately investigate, report, and hold accountable sailors found involved in hazing incidents. Additionally, she failed to properly handle a loaded weapon during a security alert, which endangered some of her ship's crew. The relief of the executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Kurt Boenisch, was attributed to his failure to provide support to the command and to his commanding officer.^[7][8]

On 26 October 2011, Ponce began a three-week tour that would take her to Port Canaveral, Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and her namesake city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. On her return to Norfolk, in December 2011, she was to begin the process of decommissioning.^[9]

On 2 December 2011, Ponce came home to await decommissioning on 30 March 2012, when she would be towed to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Naval Shipyard and be placed with the mothball fleet,^[10] where she was to be put in reserve status; however, a contract was let for a rush retrofit for the ship to be re-deployed as the first of a planned series of mine-countermeasures warships for use in keeping open strategic sea lanes.^[11]

On 17 April 2012, Ponce received a new commanding officer when Captain Jon P. Rodgers relieved Cmdr. Cole Hayes.^[12][13]

On 1 June 2012, Ponce deployed to the Fifth Fleet area in the Middle East.^[14]

It was reported on 22 June 2012 that Ponce was passing through the Suez Canal on her way to Bahrain.^[15] She arrived in Bahrain on 5 July.^[16]

Ponce participated in International Mine Countermeasures Exercise 2012 (IMCMEX 2012) between 16 and 27 September 2012,^[17] demonstrating the capabilities her "stop-gap" role was intended to fill.^[11]

On 29 October 2012, Ponce rescued seven Bahraini fishermen whose vessel was foundering in a hailstorm.^[18]

Afloat Forward Staging Base, Interim (AFSB-I)

In September 2014 after conversion to AFSB

RHIB enters well-deck in 2012

On 24 January 2012, the Military Sealift Command posted a bid request to retrofit USS Ponce on a rush-order basis. In response to requests from United States Central Command, the ship was converted to a staging base for mine countermeasures helicopters and ships/boats.^[11][19][20] The ship was expected to be completely transformed in an estimated four to five months,^[21] and the target date for re-deployment to her new role was met.^[14] The ship is operated jointly by active-duty Navy officers and sailors, as well as being crewed by government civilian mariners from Military Sealift Command --- some of whom, on her initial cruise in her new role, were more than 60 years old.^[11] USS Ponce was modified as an Afloat Forward Staging Base (AFSB) to support mine-sweeping MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopters and small mine-clearance vessels.^[11][22][23] MSC issued requests for proposal to upgrade and refit the ship. The work included upgrading the ship’s navigation systems, bringing habitability up to MSC standards and general refurbishment.^[23] Ponce was designated as AFSB(I)-15^[22] ("I" for the interim nature of the ship in this role, until purpose-built vessels come on line in 2015);^[11] Ponce will be replaced in the AFSB role by USNS Lewis B. Puller^[24] ("ESB" being the new designation for "Expeditionary Mobile Base", which replaced AFSB in September 2015). The ship is now in the Persian Gulf to serve as the Pentagon's first floating staging base for military operations or humanitarian assistance.^[25]

It was later reported that, despite the capability to do so, Ponce would not be a mothership for special operations, but rather a "lilypad" for MH-53E helicopters in a mine-clearance role, as well as for patrol and mine-clearance craft.^[11] As Admiral John Harvey stated, “The topic was a hot one, and people read these [documents] we generate very closely. I think they put two and two together and got 22."^[26]

In 2013, USS Ponce functioned as the operational center and HQ for the International Mine Countermeasures Exercise in the Persian Gulf, using the berthing designed for transporting marines in order to function as a floating "hotel" for the operation.^[27]

In October 2016, Ponce was subjected to missile fire ostensibly launched from Yemen by Houthi rebels.^[28]

Originally, the Navy planned to replace the Ponce in the AFSB role with the Lewis B. Puller, but by the time of its first deployment in July 2017 Ponce's future operational schedule would not be discussed.^[29]

Laser weapon tested

Laser Weapon System aboard USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15) in November 2014 (05)

Ponce became the testbed platform for the Laser Weapon System (LaWS), with installation of a prototype weapon system for field testing in August 2014.^[30][31][32] In December 2014 the United States Navy reported the LaWS system works perfectly, and that the commander of Ponce is authorized to use the system as a defensive weapon.^[33] On 9 December 2014, the U.S. Navy released video footage of the LaWS in operation.^[34] The operating power of the LaWS is unknown but estimated at 15–50 kW for engaging drones, small aircraft and high-speed boats.^[35]

Ponce was deployed to the Persian Gulf in late August 2014.^[36][37] The LaWS will remain in use on Ponce as long as it is at sea, potentially into 2017.^[38]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Ponce (LPD-15).

• Official website
• Photo gallery of USS Ponce at NavSource Naval History
• "USS Ponce Command Histories". Naval History & Heritage Command. 

Austin-class amphibious transport docks
United States Navy	Austin Ogden Duluth Cleveland Dubuque Denver Juneau Coronado Shreveport Nashville Trenton Ponce
Indian Navy	Jalashwa (ex-Trenton)
Preceded by: Raleigh class Followed by: San Antonio class
List of United States Navy amphibious warfare ships