Amphibious warship Richard M. McCool, Jr., (LPD-29) on Aug. 4, 2022. USNI News Photo
Construction of new U.S. amphibious warships is still on pause despite a small business solicitation indicating the Navy was preparing to enter a multi-year deal for San Antonio-class ships, USNI News has learned. Read More
The future Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD-29) launching at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Mississippi. HII Photo
The Defense Department’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget request will not seek to buy any San Antonio-class amphibious warships in the next five years, exposing a continued fissure between Pentagon and Marine Corps priorities, USNI News has learned. Read More
USS Wasp (LHD-1) transits the Coral Sea. Wasp, flagship of the Wasp Amphibious Ready Group, with embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit on Aug. 1, 2019. US Navy Photo
After less than two years forward-deployed, big deck amphib USS Wasp (LHD-1) has left Japan. Read More
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
US Marine Sgt. Maj. Allen Goodyear, the squadron sergeant major for Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 211, Marine Aircraft Group 13, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, signals for an F-35B Lightning II to take off from the flight deck of the USS Essex (LHD-2) during Exercise Dawn Blitz. US Marine Corps Photo
The Navy’s director of amphibious warfare warned that pursuing a light aircraft carrier option in lieu of amphibious assault ships would limit the Marines’ options for responding to operational commanders’ needs, and instead urged faster shipbuilding and experimenting with new ship groupings to increase operational flexibility. Read More
Peter “Wizzer” Wilson and Maj. John Dirk arrive aboard USS America for STOVL DT-III, 28 October 2016. US Navy photo.
This article is the first in a two-part series on the future of Marine Corps aviation. To read about how MAWTS-1 is discovering how to best integrate the F-35B and other weapons systems for a high-end air fight, please click this link.
ABOARD USS AMERICA, OFF THE COAST OF CALIFORNIA – After years of testing to make sure the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter and its subsystems work as designed, the Marine Corps has a contingent of pilots and maintainers aboard USS America (LHA-6) now to ensure the new plane can operate from the amphibious ship, in a final test period ahead of next year’s first deployment. 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
The first grand blocks of the future USS John Finn (DDG 113) are erected on the building ways at the Ingalls Shipbuilding yard in Pascagoula, Miss. Huntington Ingalls Industries photo.
WASHINGTON NAVY YARD – The Navy and two shipbuilders are moving forward with the Flight III upgrade to the Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyers (DDG-51), which adds an air and missile defense radar to the ship class starting this fiscal year. Read More
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Post-delivery testing on USS America (LHA-6) went far more smoothly than on previous big-decks, and the Navy and Ingalls Shipbuilding are trying to leverage this success as they move forward with the next two amphibious assault ships. Read More
USS Peleliu (LHA 5) is underway in the Philippine Sea in its last 2014 deployment. US Navy Photo
The last Tarawa-class big deck amphibious warship will decommission in a ceremony at Naval Station San Diego on Tuesday ahead of joining the Navy’s inactive reserve fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the service announced on Monday. Read More
