Spearhead-class

Deployed to Africa, USS ‘Woody’ Williams Key Platform to Train, Engage Partners in Piracy Hotspot

Members of a Brazilian Navy Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) team participate in a drill aboard the Expeditionary Sea Base USS Hershel “Woody” Williams (ESB-4) as part of Operation Guinex, Aug. 23, 2021. US Navy Photo

The small, rigid-hulled inflatable boat sped from the Brazilian Navy Frigate BNS Independencia (F-44) last week, taking an armed boarding team to a ship suspected of harboring illicit or piracy activities off western Africa’s coast.

It was just a practice drill, though, for...

Austal USA christens another Navy Expeditionary Fast Transport vessel

Austal USA, Mobile, Ala., hosted ship sponsor Charlotte Marshall of Newport, R.I., Saturday for the christening ceremony of the U.S. Navy’s future Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF 12) Newport.

The Spearhead-class EPF is currently providing high-speed, high-payload transport capability to combatant commanders. The 338′ all aluminum catamaran’s 20,000-sq. ft. large, open mission deck and large habitability spaces provide the opportunity to conduct a wide range of missions – from engagement and...

https://www.workboat.com/news/shipbuilding/austal-christens-another-expeditionary-fast-transport-for-navy/

Navy Says Africa Mission More About Building Partnerships, Less About Countering China

Master-at-Arms 1st Class Michael Welch, a tactical supervisor assigned to the Embarked Security Team deployed from Task Force 68 aboard the Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ship USNS Carson City (T-EPF 7) stands watch as the ship departs Tema, Ghana, July 26, 2019. US Navy Photo

THE PENTAGON — The current African Partnership Station mission in the Gulf of Guinea aboard the USNS Carson City (T-EPF-7) seeks to help partner nations improve their security and prosperity, not to rival the...

https://news.usni.org/2019/08/07/navy-says-africa-mission-more-about-building-partnerships-less-about-countering-china

Austal Counting on LCS and EPF Demand to Boost FY 2020 Earnings

Austal USA rendering of proposed EPF hospital ship. Austal USA

Australian-based Austal Limited predicts its work building U.S. Navy ships in Alabama and ferries in Australia will drive an increase in earnings this year, according to a statement released by company executives.

Austal builds the Littoral Combat Ship and expeditionary fast transport at its Mobile, Ala., shipyard, and the financial performance of this yard was cited as being a key component of the company’s overall financial...

https://news.usni.org/2019/07/17/austal-counting-on-lcs-and-epf-demand-to-boost-fy-2020-earnings

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