Future USS Portland (LPD 27) Christened
The U.S. Navy’s newest amphibious transport dock ship, the future USS Portland (LPD 27), was christened during a ceremony on May 21 at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Mississippi.
LPD-27 will be the third Navy ship named Portland, honoring both the Oregon seaport and Maine’s largest city.
The first was heavy cruiser USS Portland (CA 33), which was commissioned on February 23, 1933. Serving throughout World War II, CA-33 saw action at a number of important battles, including Guadalcanal, Leyte Gulf, Corregidor and Okinawa.
The second, dock landing ship USS Portland (LSD 37), was commissioned October 3, 1970. Over the course of nearly 33 years of service, LSD-37 participated in a number of important operations, including the 1976 evacuation of American citizens from Lebanon, the 1983 multi-national peacekeeping mission to Beirut, Lebanon, and deployment of Marines to Kuwait in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
LPD-27 will be the 11th San Antonio-class ship. San Antonio-class ships are designed to support embarking, transporting and landing elements of more than 800 Marines with both a flight deck, which accommodates CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters and MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, and a well deck that can launch and recover landing craft and amphibious vehicles.
San Antonio-class ships are versatile players in maritime security with the ability to support a variety of amphibious assault, special operations or expeditionary warfare missions, operating independently or as part of Amphibious Readiness Groups, Expeditionary Strike Groups or Joint Task Forces. In addition to performing their primary mission, San Antonio-class ships have supported anti-piracy operations, provided humanitarian assistance and foreign disaster relief operations around the world.
USS Portland is currently scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in 2017.
Ingalls has delivered 10 San Antonio-class ships to the Navy with the most recent, John P. Murtha (LPD 26), delivering on May 13. Ingalls has received more than $300 million in advance procurement funding for the 12th ship in the class, Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28).
General Characteristics, San Antonio Class
Builder: Huntington Ingalls Industries
Propulsion: Four sequentially turbocharged marine Colt-Pielstick Diesels, two shafts, 41,600 shaft horsepower
Length: 684 feet
Beam: 105 feet
Displacement: Approximately 24,900 long tons (25,300 metric tons) full load
Draft: 23 feet
Speed: In excess of 22 knots (24.2 mph, 38.7 kph)
Crew: Ship's Company: 374 Sailors (28 officers, 346 enlisted) and three Marines. Embarked Landing Force: 699 (66 officers, 633 enlisted); surge capacity to 800.
Armament: Two Bushmaster II 30 mm Close in Guns, fore and aft; two Rolling Airframe Missile launchers, fore and aft: ten .50 caliber machine guns
Aircraft: Launch or land two CH53E Super Stallion helicopters or two MV-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft or up to four CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, AH-1 or UH-1 helicopters