USS New York (LPD-21) in 2012. US Navy Photo
The Navy’s second look at the requirements and design of its next amphibious warship is walking the line between capability and affordability, the head of Naval Sea Systems Command told reporters Thursday at NAVSEA’s temporary headquarters. Read More
The following is the May 12, 2014 Congressional Research Service report,
Navy LX(R) Amphibious Ship Program: Background and Issues for Congress. Read More
USS San Antonio (LPD 17) prepares to moor in Norfolk, Va. in 2013. US Navy Photo
In the 1960s our nation was fixated with President John F. Kennedy’s vision to have a man on the moon before the end of the decade. The country was wholly supportive of his goal. With bipartisan support from Congress, the government approved the funding for NASA that was needed and the nation’s “best and brightest” engineers and scientists flocked to the space industry. Millions of Americans were glued to their television sets in July 1969 and cheered when Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and the words of Astronaut Neil Armstrong will always be remembered as he made that first step on the lunar surface: “That’s one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.” Read More
An infantry Marine with 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, walks across a field during a security patrol in Helmand province, Afghanistan, Feb. 20, 2014. US Marine Corps Photo
The Marine Corps is preparing for its new normal with a force of 175,000, that plans to operate under the constraints of sequestration, the assistant commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, told a key Senate subcommittee on Wednesday. Read More
USS Makin Island (LHD-8), alongside the dock landing ship USS Comstock (LSD-45), right, and the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego (LPD-22) on March 14, 2014. US Navy Photo
A constellation of twenty former U.S. Marine Corps generals — including a former commandant —wrote Congress to “highlight concerns,” on the health of the U.S. Navy’s amphibious forces and are throwing their support behind extending the San Antonio-class (LPD-17) amphibious warship hull form beyond the Navy’s current plan of 11 ships.
Sailors assigned to the amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24) recover an Orion capsule into the well deck of Arlington. US Navy Photo
The Navy and NASA conducted tests this week in Norfolk, Va. to prove that a San Antonio-class (LPD-17) amphibious warship could be used to recover the space agency’s next bid for manned space flight, NASA officials told USNI News on Thursday. Read More
USS Anchorage (LPD-23) moored at the Port of Anchorage, Alaska on May 3, 2013.
The latest San Antonio-class amphibious warship (LPD-17) has completed its final round of contractor trials, Naval Sea Systems Command announced last week.
USS Anchorage (LPD-23) completed its final contractor trial in July, overseen by the U.S. Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV). The most recent test of the ship’s systems are the last review while the ship is still under warranty from shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries. Read More
USS San Antonio (LPD 17), part of the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready group, underway on June 16, 2013. US Navy Photo
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert said last year: “We need to move from ‘luxury car’ platforms — with their built-in capabilities — toward dependable ‘trucks’ that can handle a changing payload selection.” There is one platform that can fulfill that requirement: the San Antonio-class landing platform dock (LPD). Read More
From June, 12 2013 Congressional Research Service report: Navy Ship Names
For ship types now being procured for the Navy, or recently procured for the Navy, naming rules can be summarized as follows: Read More
Huntington Ingalls Industries proposed Flight II LPD-17 ship class. Huntington Ingalls Industries Photo
Congress included $240 million for a 12th San Antonio-class amphibious warship (LPD-17), as part of the last minute, late March budget deal that funded the Pentagon for Fiscal Year 2013.
However the Navy didn’t ask for the money for what would be LPD-28, leaving open questions for the future of a class that was supposed to stop at 11 ships. Read More
