Country:United States
Type:Amphibious Assault Ship
Ship Name:LPD-7 Amphibious Assault Ship
The LPD-17 multi-purpose amphibious transport ship is the U.S. Navy's next-generation amphibious ship. Development of the first ship of the class, the USS San Antonio, began in 1988,&127; to coincide with the Experimental Operational Requirements Program. The projected cost is $1.15 billion, and the cost of the follow-on ships could be reduced to $7&127; million each.
The first ship will officially begin construction in fiscal 1998 and be delivered around 2004. The U.S. Navy intends to submit a request to build two ships each year from FY1998 through FY2002, with a mid-request to build the final ship in 2003&127;.
The LPD-17 has an overall length of 208.4 meters, a maximum width of 31.9 meters, and a draft of 7 meters; &127;full load displacement of 25,000 tons; and a sustained speed of 21 knots.
LPD-17 ship is the U.S. Navy in order to strengthen the amphibious operational capability, comprehensively improve its speed and rapid response capability of a new generation of amphibious ships. It uses many modern scientific and technological achievements, and the traditional amphibious dock transport ship has a big difference:
First of all, has a better stealth performance. LPD-17 ship in the design of the ship are as far as possible to reduce the ship's various reflective features; its hull for the V-shaped, the steel structure of the superstructure is an inverted V Yu tilted inward, & 127; the ship's upper decks and hull of the independent components in the design are Strive to reduce the radar cross-sectional area; the ship's other components are either located in the hull, or hidden in the ramparts; two huge layers of ship-carrying decks are surrounded by a ship storage area, lifeboats placed in a ship's cover. At the same time, the ship also pays close attention to reducing magnetic signals.
Secondly, the loading area has been expanded. the LPD-17 ship compared to the current U.S. amphibious transport ship's loading capacity is significantly larger, this class of ships can be loaded with two air cushion landing craft, its vehicle carrying space of 2,300 cubic meters, &127; cargo space of 710 cubic meters, and living compartments that can accommodate 720 Marines. &127;As a secondary casualty receiving ship, the LPD-17 is equipped with medical equipment, including two operating rooms and a 24-bed wardroom, among other things.
Once again, equipped with strong air defense weapons. the LPD-17 ship will be unprecedented air defense weapons, fitted with extended-range Sea Sparrow missiles, ship's self-defense system, with strong coordinated interception capabilities. The ship will be fitted with a three-dimensional air search radar, a horizontal search radar and a surface search radar.
Currently, the U.S. Navy is planning to procure 12 LPD-17-class multi-purpose amphibious dock transports and seven Wasp-class multi-purpose amphibious assault ships to complement the Tarawa-class amphibious assault ships.