U.S. Navy’s Expeditionary Fast Transport ship USNS Choctaw County (T-EPF 2) yesterday, February 3, entered the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations.
Choctaw County is the first ship of its platform to be forward deployed to the region following a routine transit of the Suez Canal.
The auxiliary is a non-combatant vessel with a civilian crew. It will operate under Commander, Task Force (CTF) 53 to accomplish a range of missions in the U.S. 5th Fleet AOO and provide a range of flexible and adaptable capabilities in order to conduct theater security cooperation efforts, maritime security operations and provide crisis response.
Captain Edwin D. Kaiser, commander of CTF 53, said: “I’m thrilled to have Choctaw County in the 5th Fleet. The ship gives us tremendous capacity and operational flexibility.”
CTF 53 provides logistics support to the Naval Forces Central Command which is responsible for approximately 2.5 million square miles of area including the Arabian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, North Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.