TSAMTO, August 24. On August 21, the christening ceremony of the Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28) class "San Antonio" designed for the US Navy was held at the Ingalls Shipbuilding shipyard (part of Huntington Ingalls Industries).
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held in a limited format and was broadcast live.
LPD-28 is the 12th San Antonio-class ship to be built by Ingalls Shipbuilding. The initial contract for its construction was signed in 2015. The keel laying ceremony took place at the enterprise in Pascagoula on October 13, 2017, and the launching on March 28, 2020. The delivery of DVKD to the US Navy is scheduled for 2021.
As reported by TSAMTO, the implementation of the program for the construction of the San Antonio-class DVKD began in 1993 and initially provided for the supply of 11 ships to the US Navy, which should replace the outdated transports of the LPD-4, LSD-36, LKA-113 and LST-1179 classes. Later, it was decided to place orders for the construction of two more San Antonio-class DVKDs – LPD-28 Fort Lauderdale and LPD-29 Richard M McCool Jr.
The lead ship of the series was transferred to the US Navy in 2005. To date, 11 DVKDs have been adopted by the US Navy: "San Antonio" (LPD-17), "New Orleans" (LPD-18), "Mesa Verde" (LPD-19), "Green Bay" (LPD-20), "New York" (LPD-21), "San Diego" (LPD-22), "Anchorage" (LPD-23), "Arlington" (LPD-24), "Somerset" (LPD-25), "John P. Murtagh" (LPD-26) and "Portland" (LPD-27).
In March 2019, Ingalls Shipbuilding signed a contract with the US Navy for the development of a working design and construction of the first vessel of the LPD-17 Flight II version – LPD-30 Harrisburg. The cost of this agreement was $ 1.47 billion. Steel cutting for the construction of the LPD-30 began in April 2020. On April 3, 2020, a contract worth $ 1.508 billion was signed with the company for the development of a working project and the construction of the LPD-31.
The San Antonio-class DVKDs are an element of the" triad "of delivery vehicles of the USMC expeditionary units to the place of combat operations, which also includes MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor planes and new-generation EFV floating armored personnel carriers. The DVKD can take on board up to 800 Marines (the standard number is 699 people) and ensure their landing on the coast using landing hovercraft (LCAC), conventional landing boats, helicopters or aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing. DVKD can also be used to support humanitarian operations, provide assistance to victims of natural disasters.
