TSAMTO, January 11. Huntington Ingalls Industries announced that the launch ceremony of the Richard M McCool Jr. (LPD-29) class "San Antonio" was held at the shipyard of its Ingalls Shipbuilding division on January 7.
The amphibious helicopter dock ship LPD-29 is the 13th San Antonio-class ship to be built by Ingalls Shipbuilding for the US Navy. A contract worth $218,102 million for the purchase of equipment with long production times for the construction of the ship was signed with HII in June 2017. Cutting of steel for the construction of LPD-29 began at the company in Pascagoula (pcs.Mississippi) On July 30, 2018, the keel authentication ceremony took place in April 2019. The delivery of the US Navy ship is scheduled for the end of next year.
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DVKD began in 1993 and initially provided for the supply of 11 ships to the US Navy, which should replace the outdated LPD-4, LSD-36, LKA-113 and LST-1179 class transports. 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 LPD-17 Flight II version of the LPD–30 Harrisburg. The cost of this agreement was $1.47 billion. Steel cutting for the construction of 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 floating armored personnel carriers of the new generation EFV. The DVKD can take on board up to 800 Marines (the standard number is 699) and ensure their landing on the coast using amphibious hovercraft (LCAC), conventional landing boats, helicopters or aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing. DVKDs can also be used to support humanitarian operations and provide assistance to victims of natural disasters.
