CDR Salamander - Again...ESB's Carry the Tactical Load

I know it is just a little bit more than a week after my last post on the outstanding performance of the under-appreciated Expeditionary Mobile Base (ESB)—by the way, can we get this class of ships a proper classification? We have other options.

However, they are doing the heavy lifting again in the post-Maduro takedown. Here we have U.S. forces capturing the tanker VERONICA III in the Indian Ocean. The tanker is linked to the illegal transportation of crude oil from Iran, Russia, and Venezuela.

She could run, but could not hide from the yet-to-be named U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke destroyer. And as Sal Mercogliano let us know over the weekend, in the background of the picture you can see the USS Miguel Keith (ESB-3).

In a fashion, she is functioning as a mini-LHA, carrying helicopters and forces used for boarding these vessels…and probably all sorts of other goodies.

I would just like to underline that we only have six of these ships; four commissioned and two on order. That is it.

Two things need to happen.

1. Extend the buy to at least two, preferably four. Buy and pay for them as a batch purchase, and demand a discount for doing so.

2. We need to up-arm these ships. There is no reason they should not have at least SeaRAM and a couple of 30mm MK 38 remote weapons stations. It is criminal that the crew is only provided—I believe—with .50 cal M2 machine guns as their largest defensive weapon system.

NB: for full disclosure, I am not a neutral party in this argument. You can go back to 2012 and the experimentation with USS Ponce (LPD 15) and read about my enthusiasm about the concept, or listen to our Midrats Podcast with her CO from 2014.

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