The Mothership

The USS Ponce is to be converted into a "mothership", where special operations forces can be kept and deployed from. Capable of housing helicopters, rapid deployment troops, speed boats, and some aircraft she would prove an extremely useful mobile base for the United States Navy. She would be very helpful asset against pirates and could be used as a commando station against hostile groups such as Al Qaeda.

Naval technicians are already working on full on motherships, which they hope to begin building in 2013. These would be capable of carrying a lot more troops and equipment. As they will be specially designed, rather than retrofitted, they would likely be much more capable as well.

The USS Ponce and it's successor will likely be sent to the Persian Gulf or Arabian Sea, as counters to the aforementioned pirates, but also as a message to Iran. Iran and the United States have been increasingly hostile over Iran's nuclear program. While the US is joined by the EU, and most of the world, in placing sanctions against the belligerent country; Russia has stood by their ally vetoing any UN resolution that would place sanctions on Iran. Even China has cut down it's purchasing of Iranian oil, to put pressure on Iran's government, over the nuclear program. Iran's response to the sanctions has been to repeatedly threaten to close the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping lane for a fifth of the world's oil travels through. The US, France, and UK have all maintained and increased naval forces near the strait to ensure it stays open.