Navy LPD completes builder trials

AVONDALE, La., May 23 (UPI)

The seventh amphibious transport dock being built by Huntington Ingalls Industries for the U.S. Navy has completed builder sea trials.

The testing, performed in the Gulf of Mexico, took place over four days and involved more than 200 tests on various ship systems, capabilities and features such as anchor handling, flight operations, ballasting and de-ballasting the well deck, and compartment air balancing.

"The LPD 23 team just finished one of the most successful builder's trials of any LPD so far," said Doug Lounsberry, Ingalls' vice president and program manager, LPD 17 Program. "The ship demonstrated its quality through operational testing over the past four days, including propulsion, steering, navigation, communications and weapons.

"It took the dedication of thousands of craftsmen and women to get this ship to this state. We have a very short time until acceptance trials, and it will take the same dedication and determination to get us there with the high standards we have set for ourselves."

The LPD 23, the Anchorage, is expected to be delivered to the Navy this year.

The LPD 17-class ships deploy the combat and support elements of Marine Expeditionary Units and brigades. They can carry as many as 800 troops and have the capability of transporting and debarking air cushion or conventional landing crafts as well as helicopters.