US Navy accepts USNS Carson City at Friday ceremony in Alabama
The U.S. Navy on Friday accepted delivery of the seventh expeditionary fast transport USNS Carson City during a ceremony held aboard the ship at Austal USA’s shipyard in Mobile, Alabama.
EPF 7 is the second U.S. Navy ship named for the city in Nevada. The first Carson City was designated PF-50 and commissioned March 24, 1944. She was loaned to Japan in 1953 and served for nearly 20 years in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. Carson City received two battle stars for World War II service.
The new EPF is a shallow draft, all aluminum, commercial-based catamaran capable of intra-theater personnel and cargo lift providing combatant commanders high-speed sealift mobility with inherent cargo handling capability and agility to achieve positional advantage over operational distances.
EPF is designed to transport 600 short tons of military cargo 1,200 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 knots in sea state 3. The ship is capable of operating in shallow-draft ports and waterways, interfacing with roll-on/roll-off discharge facilities, and on/off-loading a combat-loaded Abrams Main Battle Tank (M1A2). The EPF will include a flight deck for helicopter operations and an off-load ramp that will allow vehicles to quickly drive off the ship.
In January of this year, the U.S. Navy christened the fast-transport ship, the USNS Carson City EPF-7 at a ceremony in Mobile, Alabama. Susan Asbury Crowell, wife of Carson City Mayor Robert Crowell, and sponsor of the ship, officially introduced it with a bottle of champagne.
During the January ceremony, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said the USNS Carson City marks the "beginning of what will be a long-standing partnership between the people of Carson City, the sailors, Marines and civilian mariners who will sail aboard this ship."