Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding division announced on January 7, 2022 the successful launch of amphibious transport dock USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD-29). Richard M. McCool Jr., the 13th LPD in the San Antonio class of amphibious assault force ships, will support U.S. amphibious assault, special operations and expeditionary warfare missions through the first half of the 21st century.
«The LPD class ships, like all of our programs, are critically important to U.S. national security», said Kari Wilkinson, president of HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division. «In addition, thousands of Americans, from engineers to electricians, have worked on LPD-29 over the years. Ingalls Shipbuilding is proud to build them and even more proud of the talented people that make up our shipbuilding team».
With the assistance of tugs, USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD-29) came off the floating dry dock Wednesday morning, after first being translated via Ingalls’ rail car system. The dock was moved away from the pier and then ballasted to float off the ship.
Launching USS Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD-29) is the first of a series of significant milestone events in bringing the ship to life, and eventual delivery to the U.S. Navy which is planned for later next year.
Ingalls Shipbuilding is building the entire San Antonio class of ships, the newest addition to the U.S. Navy’s 21st century amphibious assault force. The 684-foot-long/208.5-meter-long, 105-foot-wide/32-meter-wide ships that displace 25,000 tons are used to embark and land Marines, their equipment and supplies ashore via air cushion or conventional landing craft and amphibious assault vehicles, augmented by helicopters or vertical takeoff and landing aircraft such as the MV-22 Osprey.
Ship Facts and Characteristics
| Propulsion | Four sequentially turbocharged marine Colt-Pielstick Diesels, two shafts, 41,600 shaft horsepower/31,021 kW |
| Length | 684 feet/208.5 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: 380 Sailors (29 officers, 351 enlisted) and 3 Marines. Embarked Landing Force: 699 (66 officers, 633 enlisted); surge capacity to 800 |
| Armament | Two Mk-46 30-mm close in Guns, fore and aft; two Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) launchers, fore and aft: ten .50 caliber/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 AH-1 Cobra or UH-1Y Venom helicopters |
| Landing/Attack Craft | Two Landing Craft Air Cushions (LCACs) or one Landing Craft Utility (LCU); and 14 Amphibious Assault Vehicles |
San Antonio-class
Flight I
| 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 | 12-14-2017 | San Diego, California |
| USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) | Ingalls | 03-28-2020 | ||
| USS Richard M. McCool (LPD-29) | Ingalls | 01-05-2022 |
Flight II
| Ship | Builder | Launched | Commissioned | Homeport |
| USS Harrisburg (LPD-30) | Ingalls | |||
| USS Pittsburgh (LPD-31) | Ingalls |