The amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Hopper (DDG 70) steam in formation while participating in a photo exercise in the Arabian Gulf on Nov. 28, 2017. US Navy photo.
ARLINGTON, Va. – The Navy’s newest amphibious assault ship will replace the service’s oldest as the forward-deployed big deck in the Pacific. Read More
HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division has received a $165.5 million contract to provide long-lead-time material and advance construction activities for LPD 30, the first Flight II LPD. HII rendering
MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. – The Navy should accelerate the production of its two newest class of amphibious ships to avoid creating a cold construction line and to get the ships it needs cheaper, an industry official from Huntington Ingalls Industry told the Marine Corps and Navy last week. Read More
A CH-53E Super Stallion takes off the flight deck of the Royal Australian Navy landing helicopter dock ship HMAS Adelaide (L01) during an amphibious demonstration as part of the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, July 29. US Navy photo.
ABOARD HMAS ADELAIDE, OFF THE COAST OF HAWAII – Australia’s amphibious force was a breakout star of the Rim of the Pacific 2018 exercise, being thrust into visible leadership role when the U.S. Navy’s amphibious assault ship suffered mechanical failures and remained pierside for most of the at-sea exercise. Read More
Ingalls Shipbuilding lands the 700-ton deckhouse on the amphibious assault ship Tripoli (LHA 7) on July 9, 2016. Ingalls Shipbuilding photo.
CAPITOL HILL — The Navy and Marine Corps are running up against a deadline to add more amphibious warships to the fleet before older hulls start retiring, Marine Maj. Gen. David Coffman told lawmakers and shipbuilding industry representatives at a congressional forum Tuesday.
U.S. Navy Fleet Surgical Team – 3 (FST-3) and USS Essex (LHD 2) medical department personnel triage a simulated casualty as part of a casualty evacuation drill between the Essex and the USS Rushmore (LSD 47) during Exercise Dawn Blitz, Oct. 22, 2017. Navy Medicine, in concert with Exercise Dawn Blitz, is experimenting with placing Role 2 capabilities across the amphibious force. US Marine Corps photo.
The Navy is experimenting with operating a specialized medical team on a smaller amphibious ship to provide more front-line trauma care at sea, filling a capability gap that arises when deployed ships are operating apart from their larger strike groups. Read More
MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft return after a long-range raid from Combined Arms Training Center, Camp Fuji, Japan to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa as part of Blue Chromite 2017, Nov. 4, 2016. The Marines honed their ability to project forces from afar by executing a long-range raid over 1,000 miles via MV-22B Osprey to include an aerial refueling by KC-130J Super Hercules. Blue Chromite is a U.S.-only exercise which strengthens the Navy-Marine Corps expeditionary, amphibious rapid-response capabilities based in Okinawa and the greater Indo-Asia-Pacific region. US Marine Corps photo.
The Marine Corps in recent years has grappled with how to remain a “fight-tonight” force without enough ships to take Marines where they need to go – but a Navy effort to redesign its future fleet and an incoming administration dedicated to growing the Navy may bode well for solving this long-standing problem.
An artist’s rendering of the LHA-8 amphibious assault ship. Huntington Ingalls Industries image.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced today that the next amphibious assault ship would be named after Bougainville island in the Solomons, the location of a strategic World War II battle. Read More
The amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) conducts flight operations while underway to Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2016. US Navy photo.
ABOARD USS AMERICA — The new amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA-6) has raised more than a few questions in its short life, with sailors and Marines alike wondering what it will mean to have an amphibious ship without a well deck and therefore without the ability to deploy landing craft to move heavy tanks and equipment ashore.
America’s recent participation in the Rim of the Pacific 2016 international exercise may have allayed some concerns – the resounding feedback from those involved in the ship’s operations is that, if the Marines are willing to tweak the composition of the deploying Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), America can move them faster, more agilely and more safely. Read More
