According to a
media report the U.S. military plans to send a floating base for commando
teams to the Middle East, where relations with Iran are tense and
other nations are in the midst of political upheaval.
The Washington Post newspaper on Saturday cited unspecified U.S. Navy
documents saying the service plans to convert an aging warship, the
USS Ponce (LPD 15), into a staging base for the commandos, calling
it a “mothership.”
A Navy spokesman declined to provide details on the plans or
to say where in the Middle East the mothership would be deployed.
The report says documents indicate the vessel could be positioned
in the Persian Gulf, where Iran has threatened to block the critical
oil-shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz.
