United States Navy expeditionary sea base vessels provide AFRICOM with an asset to increase American partnerships in Africa based on whatever the country needs.
USS Hershel "Woody" Williams in action:
one of the few U.S. military vessels to almost continually transit African waters, as part of collective U.S. government efforts to build and sustain partnerships in a region America considers vital to its national security interests. ...
The crew’s experiences during a recent exercise underscored the challenges the Woody Williams faces as one of the few U.S. military vessels to almost continually transit African waters, as part of collective U.S. government efforts to build and sustain partnerships in a region America considers vital to its national security interests.
International terrorism, drug smuggling, Chinese interest in building an Atlantic naval port and a growing Russian military presence all come into play in this region.
The sailors aboard the only Navy ship assigned to the U.S. Africa Command area of responsibility know that their role is unlike many others in the service.
“We’re pretty much a floating embassy,” said Petty Officer 3rd Class Gabriel Gajda, a yeoman assigned to the ship. “We go to countries almost no one goes to.”
It's a whole-of-government effort on one hull. Do read it all.
I like to flatter myself that I prodded this Navy capability with this proposal in Military Review for the Army to deploy such a ship using modularized auxiliary cruisers.
But the Navy has stepped up to provide the capability. Assuming one ship is enough.
As an aside, I'd pay good money to have one of this class christened The AFRICOM Queen. But my clever names never get adopted.
NOTE: TDR Winter War of 2022 coverage continues here.
NOTE: I'm adding updates on the Last Hamas War in this post.