Expeditionary Sea Base USS Hershel “Woody” Williams (ESB-4) kicked off its first deployment today, leaving Virginia for an extended deployment primarily to U.S. Africa Command.
The Blue Crew departed Naval Station Norfolk today on the second-in-class ESB, which features a flight deck with four helicopter spots and a large reconfigurable mission deck for launching small craft, unmanned vehicles or other tools that embarked crews may bring with them. The 100 sailors and 44 civilian mariners will conduct missions that include counter-piracy and partner-training operations – two of the key missions the Navy typically conducts in the [AFRICOM] area of operations – and special operations forces support, one of the two missions the ESB platform was originally built for.
This power projection platform will allow for missions along the vast African littorals. I assume Army forces could deploy in the vessel as well during its extended deployment.
I'm honestly shocked the Navy allocated an actual purpose-build hull to AFRICOM. My worries about AFRICOM's priority led me to advocate in Military Review for a modularized auxiliary cruiser that I dubbed The AFRICOM Queen.
But I wanted the capability and not my suggested means to be the priority. So I celebrate the capability. I can only hope that my proposal shamed the Navy into allocating a purpose-built hull. But I of course cannot know that.
If the deployment is a success but the Navy wants its ESB for a higher priority theater, AFRICOM could justify building The AFRICOM Queen.
