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Expeditionary Sea Base USNS Miguel Keith (T-ESB 5) was delivered to Military Sealift Command (MSC) today, during a brief ceremony onboard the ship at the General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, Calif.
The 784-foot-long ship honors Miguel Keith a U. S. Marine, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions as a machine gunner with Combined Action Platoon 132, III Marine Amphibious Force in Quang Ngai Province, Republic of Vietnam.
Miguel Keith is the fifth ship in the expeditionary mobile base platform build for MSC, and the third expeditionary staging base model. When activated, Miguel Keith will primarily support aviation mine countermeasure and special operations force missions, counter-piracy operations, maritime security operations, humanitarian aid and disaster relief missions and U.S. Marine Corps crisis response. In addition to the flight deck, the ship has a hangar with two aviation operating spots capable of handling MH-53E Sea Dragon-equivalent helicopters; accommodations, work spaces, and ordnance storage for embarked force; enhanced command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence to support embarked force mission planning and execution; and reconfigurable mission deck area to store embarked force equipment to include mine sleds and rigid hull inflatable boats.
“We’re proud to welcome USNS Miguel Keith to the MSC fleet!” said Capt. Gabe Varela, Commodore, Military Sealift Command Pacific. “A flexible platform, such as the ESB’s, will allow MSC to support a variety of missions. We look forward to bringing this ship fully operational, and to explore the wide ranging functionality, and how it will be optimized in the Pacific area of operations and beyond.”
Following testing and various qualifications and inspection, Miguel Keith will become operational and will deploy in support of national defense missions throughout the world.
| Date Taken: | 11.15.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 11.15.2019 15:10 |
| Story ID: | 351940 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 111 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
This work, Military Sealift Command Accepts Delivery Of Newest Expeditionary Sea Base USNS Miguel Keith, by Sarah Cannon, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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