History USNS Spearhead (T-EPF-1)

spearhead undergoing high-speed trials in 2013.

construction of spearhead began on 22 july 2010, when ship s keel laid @ austal facility in mobile, alabama in ceremony included officials navy, army, state of alabama , city of mobile. @ time, spearhead intended service army in 7th sustainment brigade usav spearhead.

spearhead launched on 8 september 2011, though did not enter water until several days later; launch moving of vessel shed constructed onto floating drydock. @ time, scheduled delivered navy in 2012, delay original target of september 2011.

spearhead christened on 17 september 2011. sponsor former army officer, kenneth wahlman; part of ceremony, daughter catherine wahlman (virginia polytechnic institute , state university corps of cadets class of 2013) broke bottle of champagne across spearhead s bow. spearhead, after delivery navy in 2012, undergo sea trials , tests, , in first quarter of fiscal year 2013 planned begin operations, homeported @ naval amphibious base little creek. crewed civilian sailors military sealift command, , first captain douglas d. casavant, jr.

in august 2012 spearhead made clean sweep of acceptance trials.

spearhead formally delivered navy on 5 december 2012, 8 months late , $31 million on budget. made first deployment europe , africa in 2014, followed trip latin america.

on 7 march 2014, spearhead visited liberia, marines conducted rigid-hulled inflatable boat drill.

on 12 june 2014, spearhead conducting routine testing off coast of key west. in morning, lightning struck aerostat tethered vessel. strike caused aerostat deflate , land in water, sank.

during operations in 2015, spearhead experienced bow-damage rough seas requiring more half-million dollars (usd) repair. determined design change austal recommended navy late in design phase save weight has resulted in weakened bow structure. first 5 ships in class need returned austal have upgrades done improve superstructure, @ cost of $1.2m each. remaining ships still various stages of construction upgraded well.