Navy

Transitional ship

The keel for the future USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) was authenticated during a ceremony at Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), October 13.

Ship’s Sponsor Meredith Berger traces her initials onto a steel plate that will be welded inside the amphibious transport ship USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28). Pictured with Berger are (left to right) Howard Sparks, a structural welder at Ingalls; Captain Brian Metcalf, the U.S. Navy’s LPD 17-class program manager; and Steve Sloan, Ingalls’ LPD program manager (Photo by Lance Davis/HII)
Ship’s Sponsor Meredith Berger traces her initials onto a steel plate that will be welded inside the amphibious transport ship USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28). Pictured with Berger are (left to right) Howard Sparks, a structural welder at Ingalls; Captain Brian Metcalf, the U.S. Navy’s LPD 17-class program manager; and Steve Sloan, Ingalls’ LPD program manager (Photo by Lance Davis/HII)

Keel laying is the traditional start of ship construction. In the age of wooden ships, «keel laying» referred to the laying down of the piece of timber serving as the backbone of the ship or keel. Although modern manufacturing techniques allow fabrication of portions of a ship to begin many months earlier, the joining together of modules is considered the formal beginning of a ship.

The keel was authenticated to be «truly and fairly laid» by the ship’s sponsor, Meredith Berger, former Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the U.S. Navy who previously served as a senior policy advisor within the Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency and the State of Florida.

«I’m very honored to have Ms. Berger here today to take part in this event», said Captain Brian Metcalf, LPD-17 class program manager for Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships. «Authentication of the ship’s keel is a major ship event and we’re looking forward to leveraging the experience and expertise of the Ingalls Shipbuilding team to achieve future production milestones».

San Antonio-class ships are designed to support embarking, transporting, and landing elements of over 800 Marines by landing craft, air cushion vehicles, helicopters, or MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft. These ships support a variety of amphibious assault, special operations or expeditionary warfare missions, operating independently or as part of amphibious readiness groups, expeditionary strike groups, or joint task forces. The versatility of these ships also allows support of humanitarian efforts; USS New York (LPD-21), a sister ship, is currently underway from Mayport, Florida, offering support in the wake of Hurricane Irma.

LPD-28 is named in honor of the Florida city and will be the first U.S. Navy vessel to bear the name and will be the Navy’s 12th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship. The future USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) is planned for delivery in 2021. Eleven LPD-17 ships have been delivered, the most recent being USS Portland (LPD-27), which was delivered September 18, 2017. HII is also procuring long lead time material and advance procurement in support of LPD-29.

As one of the Defense Department’s largest acquisition organizations, PEO Ships is responsible for executing the development and procurement of all destroyers, amphibious ships, special mission and support ships, and boats and craft.

Fort Lauderdale is a «transitional ship» between the current San Antonio-class design and future LX(R) vessels
Fort Lauderdale is a «transitional ship» between the current San Antonio-class design and future LX(R) vessels

 

General Characteristics

Builder Huntington Ingalls Industries
Propulsion Four sequentially turbocharged marine Colt-Pielstick Diesels, two shafts, 41,600 shaft horsepower
Length 684 feet/208 m
Beam 105 feet/32 m
Displacement Approximately 24,900 long tons (25,300 metric tons) full load
Draft 23 feet/7 m
Speed In excess of 22 knots/24.2 mph/38.7 km/h
Crew Ship’s Company: 374 Sailors (28 officers, 346 enlisted) and 3 Marines. Embarked Landing Force: 699 (66 officers, 633 enlisted); surge capacity to 800
Armament Two Bushmaster II 30-mm Close in Guns, fore and aft; two Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) launchers, fore and aft: ten .50 calibre/12.7-mm machine guns
Aircraft Launch or land two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters or two MV-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft or up to four CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, AH-1 or UH-1 helicopters
Landing/Attack Craft Two LCACs or one LCU; and 14 Expeditionary Fighting Vehicles/Amphibious Assault Vehicles

 

San Antonio-class

Ship Builder Launched Commissioned Homeport
USS San Antonio (LPD-17) Avondale 07-12-2003 01-14-2006 Norfolk, Virginia
USS New Orleans (LPD-18) Avondale 12-11-2004 03-10-2007 San Diego, California
USS Mesa Verde (LPD-19) Ingalls 11-19-2004 12-15-2007 Norfolk, Virginia
USS Green Bay (LPD-20) Avondale 08-11-2006 01-24-2009 San Diego, California
USS New York (LPD-21) Avondale 12-19-2007 11-07-2009 Norfolk, Virginia
USS San Diego (LPD-22) Ingalls 05-07-2010 05-19-2012 San Diego, California
USS Anchorage (LPD-23) Avondale 02-12-2011 05-04-2013 San Diego, California
USS Arlington (LPD-24) Ingalls 11-23-2010 02-08-2013 Norfolk, Virginia
USS Somerset (LPD-25) Avondale 04-14-2012 05-01-2014 San Diego, California
USS John P. Murtha (LPD-26) Ingalls 11-02-2014 10-08-2016 San Diego, California
USS Portland (LPD-27) Ingalls 02-13-2016
USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) Ingalls
LPD-29