San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock

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Class overview
Builders: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems
Operators: United States Navy
Preceded by:
Succeeded by: N/A—current authorized amphibious transport dock line
Cost:
  • $1.602 billion (ave. for class, FY2012)[1]
  • $2.021 billion (last ship, FY2012)[1]
Built: 2000–2017 (forecast)[1]
In commission: 2006–present
Building: 1
Planned: 12
Completed: 10
Active: 9
General characteristics [2]
Type: Amphibious transport dock
Displacement: 25,300 t (full)
Length: 684 ft (208 m)
Beam: 105 ft (32 m)
Draft: 23 ft (7.0 m), full load
Propulsion: Four sequentially turbocharged marine Colt-Pielstick diesel engines, two shafts, 41,600 shp
Speed: In excess of 22 knots (25 mph; 41 km/h)
Boats & landing
craft carried:
Complement:
  • Crew: 28 officers, and 333 enlisted men
  • Landing force: 66 officers, and 633 enlisted men
Sensors and
processing systems:		 AN/SPS-48G, AN/SPQ-9B[1]
Electronic warfare
& decoys:		 AN/SLQ-32[1]
Armament:
Aircraft carried: Launch or land up to four CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, or up to two MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft simultaneously with room to place four MV-22s on the flight deck and one in the hangar deck

The San Antonio class is a class of amphibious transport dock (LPD) warships used by the United States Navy. These warships replace the older Austin-class LPDs (including Cleveland and Trenton sub-classes), as well as the Newport-class tank landing ships, and the Charleston-class amphibious cargo ships that have already been retired.[2]

Twelve ships of the San Antonio class were proposed, but only eleven were funded. Their original target price was $890 million;[3] as built, their average cost is $1.6 billion.[1] Defense Authorization for Fiscal Year 2015 included partial funding for a twelfth San Antonio-class ship. As of November 2014 nine warships of this class are in service with the U.S. Navy with an additional three ships under construction or authorized.[4]

History

The San Antonio class was designed to provide the Navy and U.S. Marine Corps with modern, sea-based platforms that are networked, survivable, and built to operate with 21st century transformational platforms, such as the MV-22 Osprey, the (since canceled) Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV), air-cushioned landing craft (LCACs), and future means by which Marines are delivered ashore.[2] The ship is more than 45 percent larger than the Austin class, displacing more than 25,000 tons at full load. It carries fewer troops, but has twice as much space for vehicles, landing craft, and aircraft.[5]

The project embraced a "Design for Ownership" philosophy; a concurrent engineering approach that injects operator, maintainer, and trainer input into the design development process. The goal was to ensure that operational realities are considered throughout the total ship design, integration, construction, test and life cycle support of the new ships and their systems.[6] This process was intended to improve combat readiness, enhance quality of life, and reduce Total Ownership Costs, and resulted in numerous changes during the project.[7]

The San Antonio class has significant survivability features and computer technology. In addition to Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) protection from air threats, the class was designed to minimize radar signature. Radar cross-section (RCS) reduction techniques make the ships more difficult to locate and target.[7] Enhanced survivability features include improved nuclear blast and fragmentation protection and a shock-hardened structure.[8] The fiber-optic shipboard-wide area network (SWAN) connects onboard-integrated systems. The network will allow "plug in and fight" configuration, updating and replacing hardware more easily when newer technology becomes available. Moreover, the class has extensive communications, command, control, and intelligence systems to support current and projected expeditionary warfare missions of the 21st century.[7]

The Advanced Enclosed Mast/Sensors (AEM/S) System mast, a 93-foot-high hexagonal structure 35 feet in diameter, is constructed of a multi-layer frequency-selective composite material. It is designed to permit the ship's own sensor frequencies with very low loss while reflecting other frequencies. The tapered hexagonal shape of the AEM/S is designed to reduce the radar cross section, and enclosing the antennas provides improved performance and greatly reduces maintenance costs.[9]

The San Antonio class also incorporates the latest quality of life standards for the embarked Marines and sailors, including sit-up berths, a ship services mall, a learning resource center, and a fitness center. Medical facilities include two operating rooms and 124 beds. Additionally, they are the first USN ships designed to accommodate sailors and Marines of both sexes as part of the crew and embarked troops.[10]

Following the extended problems and incidents experienced by USS San Antonio, the U.S. Department of Defense's Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), stated in 2010 that the ships are "capable of operating 'in a benign environment', but not effective, suitable and not survivable in a combat situation".[11] The DOT&E found in 2011 that the first ship of the class, USS San Antonio, had several deficiencies which rendered it "not operationally effective, suitable, or survivable in a hostile environment".[12]

U.S. senator Kay Hagan has asked if the LPD-17 construction line should be extended to a 12th ship as a bridge to building the LX(R) (formerly LSD(X)) on the same hull, but the USN has indicated that the requirements of the LX(R) have not yet been settled and that the LPD-17 hull might be too large for such a mission.[13] However, Commandant James F. Amos had also endorsed dropping LSD in favor of continued LPD production.[14] In October 2014, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus signed an internal memo recommending that the LX(R) warship be based on the existing San Antonio-class design. The LPD-17 design was selected over a foreign variant and an entirely new design to meet required capability, capacity, and cost parameters. Official selection of basing the LX(R) off the LPD-17 design still has to come with Milestone A approval.[15] The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 included partial funding for a twelfth San Antonio-class ship (LPD-28).[16]

Chief of Naval Operations Greenert considered using some of the extra space in the San Antonio class to mount modular equipment in the same fashion as the littoral combat ships.[17] As part of their bid to offer "Flight II" LPD-17s for the Dock landing ship replacement contract, HII has suggested fitting out the ships to carry the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System.[18][19] In early 2014, HII displayed its Flight IIA version of the LPD-17 hull for the Navy's LX(R) amphibious ship. The design is further modified by removing some of the higher-end capabilities of the San Antonio class to create an "amphibious truck" to replace the Whidbey Island and Harpers Ferry landing ship docks. The Flight IIA has improved command and control (C2) features over the LSDs, half the medical spaces of the LDP-17 and a smaller hangar for stowing two MV-22s, no composite masts, two unspecified main propulsion diesel engines (MPDE), two spots for LCACs or one LCU, a reduced troop capacity (500) and a crew of about 400 sailors.[20]

In April 2015, the USN proposed adding a 12th ship to the class.[21] Which will be built at Ingalls in exchange for a destroyer to be named later.[22] On 4 December 2015, the 12th ship was ordered.[23]

Ships of the class

 Name  Number  Builder  Launched  Commissioned  Home port  Status
San Antonio LPD-17 Avondale, La. 12 July 2003 14 January 2006 Norfolk, Virginia Active
New Orleans LPD-18 Avondale, La. 11 December 2004 10 March 2007 San Diego, California Active
Mesa Verde LPD-19 Ingalls, Miss. 19 November 2004 15 December 2007 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Green Bay LPD-20 Avondale, La. 11 August 2006 24 January 2009 Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan Active
New York LPD-21 Avondale, La. 19 December 2007 7 November 2009 Mayport, Florida Active
San Diego LPD-22 Ingalls, Miss. 7 May 2010 19 May 2012 San Diego, California Active
Anchorage LPD-23 Avondale, La. 12 February 2011 4 May 2013 San Diego, California Active
Arlington LPD-24 Ingalls, Miss. 23 November 2010 8 February 2013 Norfolk, Virginia Active
Somerset LPD-25 Avondale, La. 14 April 2012 1 March 2014 San Diego, California Active[24]
John P. Murtha LPD-26 Ingalls, Miss. 2 November 2014[25] 2016 (planned) San Diego, California Christened[26]
Portland LPD-27 Ingalls, Miss. Under construction[27]
LPD-28 Ingalls, Miss. Contract awarded

Gallery

  • US Navy 020830-N-9999T-002 Pre-commissioning unit San Antonio (LPD 17).jpg

    USS San Antonio during construction at Avondale, 2002

  • Port-bow view of USS San Antonio.

  • US Navy 070305-N-7427G-001 Pre-Commissioning Unit New Orleans (LPD 18) leaves Avondale Shipyard and transits up the Mississippi River toward her commissioning site in New Orleans.jpg

    Port-quarter view of USS New Orleans.

  • Steel from the World Trade Center is poured for construction of USS New York

  • Lpd17-062000.gif

    Elevation of LPD-17-class ship.

  • Cutaway illustration of the U.S. Navy's San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship (LPD).

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. LPD-27 is the last scheduled member of the class, bought with $2.021B (FY2012)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Capaccio, Tony Northrop Navy Ships `Not Survivable' in Combat, Official Says Bloomberg, 28 October 2010
  12. ↑ "LPD-17 San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport Dock". DOT&E
  13. ↑ O'Rourke, Ronald. "Navy LPD-17 Amphibious Ship Procurement: Background, Issues, and Options for Congress." Congressional Research Service, 16 March 2011.
  14. ↑ "Navy League Conference 2013 speeches on the future of the maritime services."
  15. ↑ Memo: Hull Based on San Antonio Design is Navy’s Preferred Option for Next Generation Amphib - USNI.org, 20 October 2014.
  16. ↑ http://www.defensenews.com/article/20141212/DEFREG/312120029/Navy-Gains-Ship-15-Growlers-Defense-Bill
  17. ↑ Freedberg, Sydney J. Jr. "Modular 'Trucks' Will Rule The Waves: CNO." Aol Defense. 18 April 2012.
  18. ↑ "HII Pitching BMD Role For LPD-17 Hull."
  19. ↑ "LPD Flight II."
  20. ↑ What the Navy’s Next Generation Amphibious Ship Could Look Like - News.USNI.org, 21 November 2014
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/12/26/two-new-warships-en-route-to-us-navy.aspx
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ US Navy christens new amphibious dock ship - Shephardmedia.com, 25 March 2015
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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