HII Completes Acceptance Sea Trials on Fort Lauderdale Amphibious Transport Dock

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) completed acceptance sea trials on Friday for the amphibious transport dock Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28).

The San Antonio-class ship, built at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division, spent several days with the U.S. Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey. Ingalls’ shipbuilders will now complete final finish work on the ship in preparation for delivery this quarter.

Key demonstrations by the Ingalls’ test and trials team included: anchor handling, ballast/de-ballast, detect-to-engage, and running the ship at full power and steering.

Ingalls has delivered 11 San Antonio-class ships to the U.S. Navy and has three under construction that include Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28), Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29), and Harrisburg (LPD 30). Additionally, fabrication of the 15th San Antonio-class ship, Pittsburgh (LPD 31), will begin in the spring.

San Antonio 684-foot-long, 105-foot-wide ships 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. The ships support a Marine Air Ground Task Force across the spectrum of operations, conducting amphibious and expeditionary missions of sea control and power projection to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions.