The Navy’s first-in-class mobile landing platform, USNS Montford Point (MLP 1), successfully completed final contract trials Sept. 13.
Final contract trials (FCT) are the final in-depth examination of a newly constructed ship while still under warranty to the shipbuilder. FCT are conducted by the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) to ensure the ship meets Navy standards and requirements and are the first trials involving the crew.
“These trials evaluated Montford Point’s material readiness for subsequent operations, helping expand the Department of Navy’s capability for large-scale logistics movements,” said Capt. Henry Stevens, Strategic and Theater Sealift program manager for Program Executive Office Ships. “These successful trials support a new level of operational flexibility for critical asset infrastructure for the fleet.”
Constructed by General Dynamics-NASSCO, Montford Point was named in honor of the 20,000 African-American Marine recruits who trained at Montford Point Camp, N.C., from 1942 to 1949. Their service prompted President Harry Truman to sign an executive order ending segregation in the U.S. military.
FCT evaluated the material condition and performance of the ship’s major systems. While underway, the ship’s crew successfully demonstrated a variety of systems including main propulsion, navigation, deck, engineering and ship control systems.
Montford Point is a highly flexible ship supporting the transfer of light and heavy vehicles and equipment at sea. Leveraging float-on/float-off technology, Montford Point is able to partially submerge to facilitate cargo movement. At 785 feet long, MLP 1 has 25,000 square feet of vehicle and equipment stowage space.
Montford Point will now conduct a series of post-delivery test and trials leading up to its post-shakedown availability in 2014. MLP 2, the future USNS John Glenn, and MLP 3, the future USNS Lewis B. Puller, are currently under construction at NASSCO.
The ship is owned by U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command (MSC) and is operated by a 34-person civilian-mariner crew. MSC operates approximately 110 noncombatant, U.S. Navy civilian-crewed ships that replenish U.S. Navy combatant ships, conduct specialized missions, strategically preposition combat cargo at sea around the world, and move military cargo and supplies used by deployed U.S. forces and coalition partners.
As one of the Defense Department’s largest acquisition organizations, PEO Ships is responsible for executing the development and procurement of all destroyers, amphibious ships, special mission and support ships and special warfare craft. Delivering high-quality warfighting assets – while balancing affordability and capability – is key to supporting the Navy’s Maritime Strategy.
[mappress] Press Release, October 04, 2013; Image: US Navy