[1] Named in honor of Gen. Frank S. Besson Jr., former Chief of Transportation, U.S. Army, these ships have bow and stern ramps and the ability to beach themselves, giving them the ability to discharge 816 tonnes of vehicles and cargo over the shore in as little as 1.2 m of water, or 1,814 tonnes as an intra-theater line haul roll-on/roll-off cargo ship.

[2] The vessel's cargo deck is designed to handle any vehicle in the US Army inventory and can carry up to 15 M1 Abrams main battle tanks or 82 ISO standard containers.

This is due to a more streamlined "visor" bow that hides the front ramp and allows for the vessels to move through rough water more easily.

While these ships have the same main deck area as the rest of the class—10,500 square feet (980 m2)— however they displace 6,000 short tons (5,400 t), can make 10,000 U.S. gallons (38,000 L) of water a day, have incinerators for burning trash, are taller than the traditional Besson-class LSVs, and have 25% more horsepower.

The ship has a range of more than 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km) and can deploy fully provisioned worldwide at a speed of 12 knots (22 km/h) carrying a standard port-opening package weighing 1,000 short tons (910 t).