USN orders new LPDs at Avondale

The shipyard at Avondale and a sister facility in Mississippi will build at least nine amphibious assault vessels for the US Navy, a drop from the original plan to build 12. Known as a landing platform dock ship (LPD), four are under construction at Avondale and one at the Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The number of LPDs that will be built is key to Avondale, the largest manufacturing employer in Louisiana. It takes more than three years to build one of the 210 metre long ships, so each represents job security for a large portion of Avondale’s 6,500 workers. The program accounts for 70% of the shipyard’s work.