USS Desert Ship (LLS-1) is a concrete blockhouse providing assembly and launch facilities simulating shipboard conditions for Navy surface-to-air weapons testing[1] at the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Weapons Division – White Sands.

[2] The beginning of construction of the Desert Ship coincided with the start of testing of the RIM-8 Talos missile.

Although there was a mock christening upon completion of the building, the Desert Ship has never been commissioned and special permission from Congress was required to name the building "USS Desert Ship".

[3] The designation "LLS" stands for "Land Locked Ship".

Desert Ship was originally used to test the Talos missile.