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USS Lewis B. Puller is an expeditionary sea base stationed within the Arabian Sea.
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Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed they hit the Puller on January 29, however US officers denied it.
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Final month, two Navy SEALs died throughout a boarding operation that originated from the Puller.
USS Lewis B. Puller is an expeditionary sea base designed to assist all kinds of army operations, together with these involving Navy SEALs.
The floating base is deployed to the Arabian Sea in response to ongoing assaults on industrial delivery vessels within the Crimson Sea by Houthi rebels, an Iranian-backed militant group in Yemen.
The 760-foot-long ESB has a novel silhouette, with an open-sided hangar area beneath the ship’s sprawling flight deck that makes it resemble a floating car parking zone. It was the launch pad for a Navy SEAL mission in January that seized missile elements certain for the Houthi rebels.
Images present the huge warship and operations carried out aboard.
Named after a legend
The Puller is named after Lt. Gen. Lewis “Chesty” B. Puller, probably the most adorned Marine in historical past and the one one to obtain 5 Navy Crosses.
The Marine chief served for 37 years and is greatest identified for combating in campaigns in World Conflict II and the Korean Conflict. He was awarded his fifth Navy Cross within the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in 1950.
His award quotation from the battle mentioned Puller “served to encourage his males to heroic efforts in protection of their positions and guaranteed the security of a lot precious tools which might in any other case have been misplaced to the enemy.”
US Navy’s first ESB
The Puller is the lead ship within the Navy’s Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) ship class and the service’s first purpose-built cellular base vessel.
It is one in all six in its class, together with the USS Hershel “Woody” Williams, USS Miguel Keith, USS John L. Canley, USS Robert E. Simanek, and USS Hector A. Cafferata Jr. The Canley deployed in August 2023; the latter two are presently underneath building.
Its deck is giant sufficient to land transport plane just like the MV-22 Osprey and the CH-53 Super Stallion, and it may launch small boats for amphibious missions or boarding groups.
The primary US ship commissioned exterior America
In 2017, the Puller was transformed to a naval warship in a ceremony in Bahrain, making it the primary US ship to be commissioned exterior America.
It differs from the Navy’s two earlier expeditionary switch dock assist vessels, the USNS Montford Level and USNS John Glenn, in that ESBs can function in additional demanding and low-intensity missions by comparability, Navy officers have mentioned.
The Puller, for instance, can function inside a number of dozen miles of adversaries and should regularly encounter fight plane, drones, and floor vessels.
“Because the safety atmosphere turns into sooner paced, extra complicated and more and more aggressive, with the ever-growing and evolving problem of uneven threats from state and non-state actors alike, the Navy has a rising must station extra various and succesful warships across the globe,” Vice Adm. Donegan, commander of Naval Forces Central Command, mentioned in an announcement in 2017. “Commissioning this expeditionary sea base, the USS Lewis B. Puller, will permit the Navy and Marine Corps crew to fulfill the threats within the area head on.”
Lacking Navy SEALs
On January 11, the Puller was concerned in an operation to seize Iranian missile parts from a dhow off the coast of Somalia in worldwide waters within the Arabian Sea.
Navy SEALs launched in a small boat from the Puller for a mission known as a visit, board, search, and seizure, or VBSS. The SEALs approached the dhow in a quick boat and clambered up a ship ladder to detain its crew and search its holds for weapons certain for Yemen.
In a rare occurrence, two Navy SEALs concerned within the operation had been reported missing at sea after one SEAL slipped off the ladder and his teammate jumped in to avoid wasting him. They had been later presumed dead on Sunday following an “exhaustive” 10-day search.
Disputed Houthi assault
Final week, Houthi spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed with no proof to have fired a missile on the Puller whereas the vessel was crusing via the Gulf of Aden as “a part of army measures geared toward defending Yemen and supporting the oppressed Palestinian folks.”
Protection officers denied that the ship was attacked.
$650 million floating parking storage
The $650 million cellular sea-based platform was constructed by Common Dynamics Nationwide Metal and Shipbuilding Firm. Nearly resembling a floating parking storage with a flight deck, it was designed to incorporate aviation services, tools staging assist, and command and management property.
The Puller can journey 15 knots and has an operational vary of 9,500 nautical miles.
ESB options
The Puller has a spacious flight deck with 4 rotary-wing touchdown spots, a mission deck, and a hangar, although the area is smaller than an plane provider. Its design permits the ship to function a switch level for small touchdown plane for tools and cargo.
The ship’s aft homes the lodging and practical workspaces for its hybrid crew of civilian and army members.
Blue and Gold crews
A typical ESB crew consists of 44 army sealift command personnel and 101 army, with lodging for as much as 250.
The Puller’s army crew operates on a rotational mannequin, and Blue and Gold Crews alternate on and off hull each 5 months. This enables the vessel to remain deployed and function in hazardous areas for longer intervals.
The Puller has been part of quite a few operations across the Arabian Sea.
In December 2022, naval forces aboard the Puller seized ammunition rounds, fuses, and propellants for rockets after it intercepted a fishing trawler within the Gulf of Oman.
The trawler, which was on a maritime route from Iran to Yemen, was illegally smuggling greater than 50 tons of weapons to the Houthis, together with greater than 1 million rounds of seven.62mm ammunition, almost 7,000 proximity fuses for rockets, and over 2,100 kilograms of propellant used to launch rocket-propelled grenades.
The Puller was additionally concerned in a counter-narcotics mission in January 2022, recovering $14.7 million in illicit medicine and saving injured mariners within the Gulf of Oman.
Stay-fire workouts
Navy crew aboard the Puller additionally conduct numerous coaching and workouts throughout deployments. The picture above reveals a live-fire train with a .50-caliber Browning machine gun.
Honing warfighting abilities
Marines additionally take part in fight marksmanship coaching via an intensive taking pictures course and take part in different drills. A few of the different varieties of coaching could be seen within the following pictures.
Vessel boarding coaching
Maritime workouts
‘A revolutionary idea’
“The Puller is not simply one other ship, however a revolutionary idea; a ship that gives us a key platform that may present continuity to a wide range of operations,” Donegan mentioned when the Puller was commissioned.
“Named after probably the most adorned Marine in American historical past, the USS Lewis B. Puller will present better operational flexibility to fifth Fleet, forward-deployed as the primary ship constructed particularly for the aim of serving as an expeditionary sea base,” he added. “As such, it can increase our amphibious forces, not exchange them, mine countermeasure forces, and supply an expeditionary sea base for maritime safety operations all through the area.”
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