PASCAGOULA, Miss. - The future USS Portland (LPD 27) was
successfully launched at the Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) shipyard Feb
13.
The ship was transferred from the land level facility to
the drydock, which was then flooded allowing her to float off the blocks.
"Every milestone in the construction of a ship is
significant, but seeing the ship float out of drydock is visually one of my
favorites," said Capt. Darren Plath, LPD 17 Class Program Manager, Program
Executive Office (PEO), Ships. "I'm looking forward to sea trials,
delivery and other exciting milestones."
The ships are designed to support embarking,
transporting, and landing elements of over 800 Marines with both a flight deck
which accommodates CH-53 helicopters and MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, and
a well deck that can launch and recover landing craft and amphibious vehicles.
LPD 17 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 (ARGs), Expeditionary Strike Groups (ESGs),
or Joint Task Forces (JTFs). 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.
Portland will be the 11th San Antonio class ship
delivered by HII which is also currently in the final stages of production on
the future John P Murtha (LPD 26).
As one of the Defense Department's largest acquisition
organizations, PEO Ships is responsible for executing the development and
procurement of all destroyers, amphibious ships, special mission and support
ships, and special warfare craft.
-NAVSEA-