The Navy announced Tuesday it has accepted the newest amphibious transport dock — the future USS John P. Murtha — from the ship’s builder.
The new vessel will be will be the tenth in the San Antonio class to join the fleet. It is scheduled to be commissioned in Philadelphia this fall, and will be based in San Diego.
Acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico were completed on Friday by Huntington Ingalls Industries. “Overall, LPD 26 performed very well and will soon be another highly capable, combat-ready ship delivered to the U.S. Fleet,” said Capt. Darren Plath, program manager for the amphibious ships.
The principal mission of the San Antonio-class ships is to support amphibious assault, special operations, and expeditionary warfare missions. They have the capability of dispatching Marines in landing craft, or by helicopters and MV-22 Osprey aircraft.
