USN orders another LPD-17

The U.S. Navy placed a $1.4 billion order for the ?USS Arlington?, a new transport vessel to carry U.S. Marines. The ?Arlington? will be the next ship in the San Antonio-class of amphibious transport dock landing ships.

Northrop Grumman Ship Systems will build the ?Arlington? at its shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and is scheduled for completion in March 2011.

“Beyond benefiting Mississippi’s largest employer, this type of investment is good for America too,” Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said in a news release. “Shipbuilding is an industry in which America must maintain leadership because it is directly linked to our ability to protect America. It’s a vital domestic industrial capacity on which our long-term security heavily depends.”

The San Antonio class, also known as the LPD-17, is designed to carry Marine Corps amphibious troops and all of their latest equipment. The San Antonio ships, which began entering the U.S. fleet earlier this year, can accommodate the MV-22 Osprey aircraft as well as air-cushioned landing craft and the new Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicle.

The diesel-powered ships are also more-automated than previous vessels and will be manned by a reduced crew of about 360.