LPD-17 San Antonio Class: The USA’s New Amphibious Ships
Dec 07, 2011 15:16 EST
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Up to $111M for LPD 26/27 electronics. (Nov 22/11)
LPD-17 San Antonio class amphibious assault support vessels are just entering service with the US Navy. Between 10-11 scheduled ships of this new class are slated to assume the functional duties of up to 41 previous ships. Much like their smaller predecessors, their mission is to embark, transport, land, and support elements of a US Marine Corps Landing Force. What changes are the ships’ size, their cost, and the capabilities and technologies used to perform those missions. Among other additions, this new ship is designed to operate accompanying platforms like the Marines’ MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, and amphibious armored personnel carriers like the AAV7 Amtracs.
While its design incorporates notable advances, the San Antonio Class has encountered more than its share of teething problems. So, too, has the New Orleans shipyard to which most of this contract was assigned. The number of serious issues encountered in this ship class have been much higher than usual, and more extensive. The initial ships have been criticized, often, for sub-standard workmanship, and it took 2 1/2 years after the initial ship of class was delivered before any of them could be sent on an operational cruise. Whereupon the USS San Antonio promptly found itself laid up Bahrain, due to oil leaks. It has not been the only ship of this class to encounter serious mechanical issues. Meanwhile, costs are almost twice the originally promised amounts, reaching over $1.7 billion per ship – 2 to 3 times as much as many foreign LPDs like the Rotterdam Class, and more than 10 times as much as Singapore’s 6,600 ton Endeavour Class LPD...
- LPD-17 San Antonio Class: Capabilities and Features
- LPD-17 San Antonio Class: Process & Issues
- LPD-17 San Antonio Class: Program, Budgets & Timelines
- LPD-17 San Antonio Class: Contracts and Events (1996-Present) [updated]
- Appendix A: Additional Readings & Sources – LPD-17 Ship Class
- Appendix B: Additional Readings & Sources – News and Views
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- Rich media resources including 14 photos of the ships and related systems, cutaway graphics and renditions, and links to published project reviews
- Chronology of acceptance trials, cost overruns, the effects of Hurricane Katrina, and political climate
- Procurement events and project milestones dating back to 1996, with links to source materials
- Description of new ship features that differentiate it from other ships of its broad type, and links to the air and land platforms it will support including the V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor, CH-53K heavy transport helicopter, UH-1Y/AH-1Z transport/attack helicopters, MH-60 Seahawk helicopter family, LCAC hovercraft, and amphibious vehicles like the troubled EFV program.
- Vast network of links to additional DII discussion and other source materials
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