Huntington Ingalls Industries delivered the U.S. Navy’s newest amphibious ship, the USS John P. Murtha.
The 10th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock to be built by HII, John P. Murtha (LPD 26) was delivered during a ceremony at Pacasgoula, Mississippi, May 13.
LPD 26 is named in honor of the late John P. Murtha, who represented Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District from 1974 to 2010.
The 684-foot-long, 105-foot-wide ships, all built at Ingalls Shipbuilding, are used to transport and land Marines, their equipment and supplies by embarked Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) or conventional landing craft and Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV) augmented by helicopters or vertical take-off and landing aircraft (MV 22). These ships support amphibious assault, special operations or expeditionary warfare missions and can serve as secondary aviation platforms for amphibious ready groups.
“Today we delivered our 10th LPD, and we have at least two more ships to complete in this class,” said Richard Schenk , Ingalls’ vice president, program management, who signed the official DD 250 document. “ John P. Murtha is the culmination of four years of tireless efforts on the part of thousands of our shipyard employees and our Navy partner.”
The signing of the DD 250 document officially transferred custody of the ship from HII to the U.S. Navy.
In addition to John P. Murtha, Ingalls has the 11th LPD, Portland (LPD 27), under construction.
Portland launched on Feb. 13 and will be christened on May 21. Ingalls has received more than $300 million in advance procurement funding for the 12th ship in the class, Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28).