Search the Site with

General Characteristics

Crew List

Memorabilia

History

Image Gallery

to end of page

USNS Millinocket (T-EPF 3)

USNS MILLINOCKET was the third ship in the SPEARHEAD - class of Expeditionary Fast Transports and the second ship in the Navy named after the town in Maine. On May 2, 2025, she was deactivated and stricken from the Navy list after only 11 years of service. She was subsequently transferred to the custody of the U.S. Maritime Administration and assigned to the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, California.

back to top

go to the end of the page

back to top

go to the end of the page

Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USNS MILLINOCKET. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

• Click here to view the list.

back to top

go to the end of the page

• Click here to see which USNS MILLINOCKET memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

back to top

go to the end of the page

USNS MILLINOCKET History:

USNS MILLINOCKET was a SPEARHEAD-class expeditionary fast transport built by Austal USA and operated by Military Sealift Command. Her keel was laid at Mobile, Alabama, on May 3, 2012, as JHSV 3 in the Joint High Speed Vessel program. On May 30, 2012, the Secretary of the Navy announced that the ship would be named USNS MILLINOCKET in honor of the town of Millinocket, Maine, continuing a name carried by a World War II patrol frigate. She followed the aluminum catamaran design adopted for the class, optimized for shallow-draft, high-speed movement of troops, vehicles and cargo within a theater. MILLINOCKET was christened at Mobile on April 20, 2013, launched on June 5, 2013, and completed builder's sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico on December 20, 2013, demonstrating her speed and handling before returning to the yard for final work. The Navy accepted delivery and placed her in service as USNS MILLINOCKET (JHSV 3) on March 21, 2014.

In her early service on the U.S. West Coast, MILLINOCKET completed post-delivery availability and initial operational testing. She attracted particular attention in July 2014 when she served as a display platform for two Office of Naval Research electromagnetic railgun demonstrators at Naval Base San Diego, underscoring her usefulness as a test and demonstration ship as well as a transport. Through this period, she operated with a civilian mariner crew under Military Sealift Command, with small military detachments embarked according to mission.

By 2015, the ship had shifted to humanitarian and theater-security-cooperation roles in the Pacific. On May 31, 2015, MILLINOCKET arrived in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility to support PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP 2015, operating alongside the hospital ship USNS MERCY (T-AH 19). During the Kiribati phase, she supported a roughly two-week mission around Tarawa, moving personnel, supplies and small craft in support of medical, dental, veterinary and engineering projects ashore, which concluded with a closing reception on June 17, 2015. She then proceeded to Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia, arriving on June 21, 2015, where similar humanitarian and capacity-building activities were carried out. Later in the deployment, she supported operations in the Solomon Islands, again acting as a fast connector and secondary platform for ashore projects until the PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP task group completed its work and departed the Solomons on July 26, 2015.

After this South Pacific work, MILLINOCKET moved northwest. On August 4, 2015, she arrived at San Fernando City, La Union, in the Philippines, and operated in support of USNS MERCY as a secondary mission platform, transporting personnel and supporting medical and engineering engagements ashore. The final leg of PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP 2015 brought her to Vietnam. On August 17, 2015, MERCY and MILLINOCKET arrived off Da Nang for the Vietnamese phase, which combined port visits, professional exchanges and community service events before the mission concluded and the ships left the area.

In September 2015, the Joint High Speed Vessel program was redesignated the Expeditionary Fast Transport program, and MILLINOCKET's hull number changed from JHSV 3 to T-EPF 3. Her employment continued along the same lines, under Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet and Destroyer Squadron 7. In April 2016, she operated off the Philippines in support of exercise BALIKATAN 2016, providing high-speed intratheater lift during amphibious training that involved U.S. and Philippine forces and other U.S. ships, including the destroyer USS SPRUANCE (DDG 111) and the dry-cargo ship USNS CESAR CHAVEZ (T-AKE 14). Later in 2016, she supported Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training serials, embarking service members en route to Ream Naval Base, Cambodia, for CARAT Cambodia 2016 and conducting at-sea operations, including medical evacuation and small-boat drills, during CARAT Brunei 2016 with Royal Brunei Navy units. In late September 2016, she entered Subic Bay to support PHILIPPINE AMPHIBIOUS LANDING EXERCISE (PHIBLEX) 33 as a high-speed transport and logistics platform for amphibious training around Luzon.

In 2017, MILLINOCKET continued this pattern with CARAT Thailand 2017, operating in the Gulf of Thailand as one of the primary U.S. afloat units alongside the littoral combat ship USS CORONADO (LCS 4) and working with the Royal Thai Navy on maritime security and amphibious training. Through the exercise season, she remained a flexible connector, embarking detachments of U.S. and partner-nation personnel and moving them rapidly between ports and operating areas. In November 2017, she again called at Subic Bay in the Philippines, maintaining her regular presence in that hub for regional engagements.

The ship expanded her footprint in Indonesia in 2018. On March 5, 2018, she made a port visit to Makassar, Sulawesi, marking the first visit of a U.S. Navy ship to that port and highlighting closer maritime cooperation with Indonesia. On May 5, 2018, she anchored off Lombok to participate in Multinational Exercise Komodo 2018, a large multilateral event focused on humanitarian assistance, disaster relief and maritime security. MILLINOCKET's shallow draft and mission bay supported small-boat operations and staff work during the sea phase. On June 4, 2018, she arrived at Puerto Princesa, Palawan, after earlier calls in Singapore and Malaysia, for a theater-security-cooperation patrol that included training and engagement activities with Philippine counterparts at a time of heightened regional focus on maritime security in the South China Sea.

Openly reported movements in 2019 are fewer, but the ship remained under Military Sealift Command and 7th Fleet as a forward-deployed expeditionary fast transport, continuing to support exercises and training events in Southeast Asia on the established CARAT and engagement pattern. In 2020, she took on an especially central role as exercises were restructured due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In early November 2020, MILLINOCKET served as the primary U.S. platform for CARAT Bangladesh 2020 in the Bay of Bengal, conducting the entire bilateral exercise at sea with Bangladesh Navy ships in order to minimize shore contact. Soon afterward, she supported CARAT Brunei 2020, maneuvering in formation with Royal Brunei Navy ships such as KDB DARUTTAQWA and KDB SYAFAAT during surface and communication drills in the South China Sea.

In 2021, she continued the CARAT series. During CARAT Indonesia 2021, she operated in the Java Sea with Indonesian Navy units, conducting maneuvering, communications and maritime-security training as part of the annual bilateral exercise. Through these years, she remained part of the small group of EPFs most heavily used for Southeast Asian engagement, demonstrating the practical utility of the expeditionary fast transport concept in routine peacetime operations.

In 2025, USNS MILLINOCKET's active naval service came to an end. On May 2, 2025, she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register after roughly a decade in service as a high-speed transport and engagement platform in the Indo-Pacific. She was subsequently transferred to the custody of the U.S. Maritime Administration and assigned to the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, California, where she joined other reserve auxiliaries laid up in the anchorage northeast of San Francisco.

back to top

go to the end of the page

USNS MILLINOCKET Image Gallery:

back to top

Back to Expeditionary Fast Transport list.

Back to ships list.

Back to selection page.

Back to 1^st page.