A new Huntington Ingalls Industries-built San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship demonstrated its construction quality and compliance with U.S. Navy requirements during recently completed acceptance trials.
The milestone now allows the shipbuilding contractor to prepare the future USS Fort Lauderdale for delivery to the service branch in the following weeks, the Naval Sea Systems Command said Monday.
Once in service, LPD 28 will become the Navy’s 12th San Antonio-class vessel and will support amphibious assault, special operations, expeditionary warfare and disaster relief missions by transporting servicemen and military equipment.
“With the completion of both Builder’s and Acceptance trials, we are confident that LPD 28 has proven the operational readiness of the vessel and the capabilities it will soon bring to the fleet,” shared Capt. Cedric McNeal, a program manager within the Navy’s Amphibious Warfare Program Office.
Aside from LPD 28, Huntington Ingalls, through its Ingalls Shipbuilding division, is currently working on the next two Navy transport vessels with a third one to start in spring.