An Old Ship Gets a Makeover and Moves to the Persian Gulf The Ponce, a Navy transport ship first keeled in 1966, has a new lease on life. Thom Shanker writes that the ship, nearing the end of its service, was set to be scrapped. But the Navy decided to retrofit the vessel as a floating forward base. The Ponce arrived in Bahrain on Friday and will serve the duration of its tour from the water without returning to dock. It will have many duties, but all of them really amount to one thing: a floating warning to Iran. Mr. Shanker reports: The first mission of the reborn Ponce was designed to be low-profile and defensive, as an operations hub for mine clearing in the Strait of Hormuz, a counter to threats from Tehran to close the vital commercial waterway. In that role, the Ponce will be a launching pad for helicopters, a home to underwater diver teams, and a seaborne service station providing fuel and maintenance for minesweeping ships.