ESB tests LCS’ MCM package

NORFOLK, Va. - The Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) ship USNS Hershel "Woody" Williams (T-ESB 4) recently completed a three-day maneuver in Chesapeake Bay to test the Littoral Combat Ship’s Mine Countermeasure (MCM) portable control station. The ship maneuvered MCM launch and recovery equipment and tested its command and control of unmanned vehicles. The demonstration demonstrated ESB’s ability to serve as an MCM-capable platform to embark 12 twenty-foot equivalent units, vehicles, and support equipment required to operate, launch, and recover one full MCM mission package, including the buried mine hunting and unmanned sweeping mission modules, with flexible ship modifications. “(C)ounter-mine capabilities are very important (to ESB ships) because we have to be able to keep the enemy at bay,” said Officer in Charge, Capt. David Gray. Representatives from Program Executive Office for Ships (PEO Ships) and Program Executive Office for Unmanned and Small Combatants (PEO USC) had overall responsibility for the event, with support from Naval Sea Systems Command and Naval Surface Warfare Center Panama City, Fla., and other agencies. Initial assessments showed positive results, and will help inform the feasibility of integration of the MCM package with ESBs, and other vessels of opportunity. (Source: PEO Ships 09/19/19) Gulf Coast Note: NSWC Panama City is the testing ground for the LCS’ Mine Countermeasure warfare package.