Mary-Louise Hoffman
An amphibious transport dock that Huntington Ingalls Industries designed and built for the U.S. Navy has completed a series of builder’s tests in the Gulf of Mexico.
HII said March 7 its Ingalls Shipbuilding division performed more than 200 test events on the USS John P. Murtha (LPD 26) during at-sea trials that lasted for four days.
The ship is the 10th of the Navy’s San Antonio class.
“Overall the builder’s trial was successful, and the ship performed well,” said Kari Wilkinson, a program manager at Ingalls Shipbuilding.
“This shipbuilding milestone is another accomplishment for a seasoned LPD production and test team that is ready to continue the learning on future LPD platforms,” Wilkinson added.
HII is scheduled to conduct an acceptance test on LPD 26 this month and deliver the amphibious transport dock to the military branch in the second quarter of this year.
To date, the company has provided nine San Antonio-class warships to the Navy.
