page_title: USS Ponce (LPD-15)
section_title: Afloat Forward Staging Base, Interim (AFSB-I)
hierarchical_section_title: USS Ponce (LPD-15) / Ship history / Afloat Forward Staging Base, Interim (AFSB-I)
caption_attribution_description: English: The U.S. Navy afloat forward staging base (interim) USS Ponce (AFSB(I)-15) transits the Arabian Gulf. Ponce is equipped with the Laser Weapon System (LaWS), a technology demonstrator built by Naval Sea Systems Command from commercial fiber solid-state lasers. The system utilizes combination methods developed at the Naval Research Laboratory to successfully shoot down a target. LaWS can be directed onto targets from the radar track obtained from an MK 15 Phalanx Close-In Weapon System or other targeting source. This capability provides ships with a method to easily defeat small boat threats and aerial targets without using bullets.
context_page_description: USS Ponce, is an Austin-class amphibious transport dock, formerly in service with the United States Navy.
  She has been the only ship of the Navy named for Ponce in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, which in turn was named after the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, the first governor of Puerto Rico and the European discoverer of Florida. Her keel was laid down on 31 October 1966 by the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company of Seattle, Washington. She was launched on 20 May 1970 sponsored by Florence W. Hyland, the wife of Admiral John J. Hyland, and commissioned on 10 July 1971. She spent most of her career based on the East Coast and operating in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, serving in Operation Desert Shield and supporting US operations in the 2011 Libyan Civil War.
  It was intended that the ship would be decommissioned in 2012, but she gained a reprieve to be converted at short notice into a testbed for the Afloat Forward Staging Base concept, in which she would act as a base for mine-sweeping MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters in the Persian Gulf.
context_section_description: On 24 January 2012, Military Sealift Command (MSC) posted a bid request to retrofit USS Ponce on a rush-order basis. MSC issued requests for proposal to upgrade and refit the ship. The work included upgrading the ship's navigation systems, bringing habitability up to MSC standards and general refurbishment. The ship was expected to be completely transformed in an estimated four to five months, and the target date for re-deployment to her new role was met. Ponce was re-designated from LPD-15 to AFSB(I)-15 (Afloat Forward Staging Base and "I" for "interim", until purpose-built vessels came on line in 2015), and she was modified to support mine-sweeping MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopters and small mine-clearance vessels. The ship was operated jointly by active-duty Navy officers and sailors, as well as being crewed by government civilian mariners from Military Sealift Command, some of whom were more than 60 years old. The ship served in the Persian Gulf as the Pentagon's first floating staging base for military operations or humanitarian assistance. It was later reported that, despite the capability to do so, Ponce would not be a mothership for special operations, but rather a "lilypad" for MH-53E helicopters in a mine-clearance role, as well as for patrol and mine-clearance craft. As Admiral John Harvey stated, "The topic was a hot one, and people read these [documents] we generate very closely. I think they put two and two together and got 22."
  On 1 June 2012, Ponce, in her new role as AFSB, deployed to the Fifth Fleet area in the Middle East, and on 22 June 2012 she passed through the Suez Canal on her way to Bahrain, arriving there on 5 July. She then participated in International Mine Countermeasures Exercise 2012 (IMCMEX 2012) between 16 and 27 September 2012, demonstrating the capabilities her "stop-gap" role was intended to fill.
  On 29 October 2012, Ponce rescued seven Bahraini fishermen whose vessel was foundering in a hailstorm.
  In 2013, Ponce functioned as the operational center and HQ for the International Mine Countermeasures Exercise in the Persian Gulf, using the berthing designed for transporting marines in order to function as a floating "hotel" for the operation.
  In October 2016, Ponce was subjected to missile fire ostensibly launched from Yemen by Houthi rebels.
  In August 2017, Ponce was replaced in the AFSB role by Lewis B. Puller (ESB-3), and in mid-2017, both ships briefly operated together. With the role of AFSB permanently taken over, the ship returned to port at Norfolk, Virginia on 27 September 2017.
caption: In September 2014 after conversion to AFSB
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