USS Ponce Carrier Ship

     This is the new mothership from US Navy that will be one of  their next  advanced "commando building above the sea". This advanced mothership will be used to carry smaller high speed boats and helicopters  which often used by Navy SEALS for special operations. This ship is categorized in advanced generation transport dock battleship.

courtesy of www.bluejacket.com

Specification
Builder                                    :    Huntington Ingalls Industries (formerly Northrop

                                                     Grumman Ships Systems), with Raytheon

                                                     Systems Corporation and Intergraph

                                                     Corporation. 

Class                                      :    San Antonio

Propulsion                             :     Four sequentially turbocharged marine

                                                     Colt-Pielstick Diesels,

                                                      two shafts, 41,600 shaft horsepower.

Length                                     :    684 feet (208.5 meters).

Beam                                      :    105 feet (31.9 meters).
Displacement                         :    Approximately 25,586 long tons (full load).
Speed                                     :    In excess of 22 knots
Crew                                        :   360 Sailors (28 officers, 332 enlisted) 

                                                     and 3 Marines.
Embarked Landing Force     :   699 (66 officers, 633 enlisted); surge capacity to

                                                      800.
Armament                               :   Two MK 46 Mod 2 guns, fore and aft; two Rolling

                                                     Airframe Missile launchers, fore and 

                                                     aft: nine .50 calibre machine guns.
Aircraft                                    :    Launch or land two CH53E Super

                                                     Stallion helicopters or two MV-22, Osprey tilt 

                                                     rotor aircraft or up to four CH-46 Sea Knight

                                                     helicopters, AH-1 or UH-1 helicopters.
Landing/Attack Craft             :   Two LCACs or one LCU; and 14 Expeditionary

                                                     Fighting Vehicles/Amphibious Assault Vehicles. 

    Advanced generation transport dock battleship is a battleship that embark, transport, and land elements of a landing force for a variety of expeditionary warfare missions. This used to transport and land Marines, their equipment and supplies by embarked air cushion (LCAC) or conventional landing craft and Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles (EFV) or Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV) augmented by helicopters or advanced vertical take off and landing aircraft (MV 22). 

  This mothership support amphibious advanced assault launch, special operations or expeditionary warfare missions and can serve as secondary  advanced aviation platforms for amphibious ready groups.

   Furthermore, this advanced battleship and mothership functionally providing the Navy and Marine Corps with advanced technology, seabased platforms that are networked, survivable, and built to operate with 21st century transformational platforms, such as tto carry the MV-22 Osprey, the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), and future means by which Marines are delivered ashore.