The future USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) was successfully launched at the Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Ingalls Division shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi on March 28. The USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) is the Navy’s 12th San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ship.
On March 7 2020, the ship was translated from the land level facility to the dry dock in preparation of floating off. During the launch, the dry dock was slowly flooded until the ship floated off the blocks.
«I am thrilled to get Fort Lauderdale in the water, so we can begin final outfitting and eventually take the ship out to sea for trials», said Captain Scot Searles, LPD-17 class program manager for Program Executive Office (PEO), Ships. «The San Antonio class has proven essential to expeditionary warfighters, and we are eager to deliver another ship to the fleet».
San Antonio class ships support embarking, transporting, and landing elements of 650 Marines by landing craft or air cushion vehicles. The ship’s capabilities are further enhanced by its flight deck and hangar, which can operate CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters and the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft (MV-22 Osprey). Because of the ships inherent capabilities, they are able to support a variety of amphibious assault, special operations or expeditionary warfare missions, operating independently or as part of Amphibious Readiness Groups (ARGs), Expeditionary Strike Groups, or Joint Task Forces.
Ingalls Shipbuilding is also in production on the future USS Richard M. McCool (LPD-29) and USS Harrisburg (LPD-30). LPD-28 and LPD-29 will serve as transition ships to LPD-30, the first LPD-17 Flight II ship.
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.
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 |
Flight II
| Ship | Builder | Launched | Commissioned | Homeport |
| USS Harrisburg (LPD-30) | Ingalls |