AVONDALE, La., Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Ingalls Shipbuilding has delivered its ninth San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship to the U.S. Navy.
The Somerset is 684 feet long and 105 feet wide, displaces about 25,000 tons, and will be used to deploy the combat and support elements of Marine Expeditionary Units and brigades.
"We are very pleased to deliver this ship to our Navy customer," said Mike Duthu, director of Ingalls' Landing Platform Dock 17 program. "With each successive LPD, we apply lessons learned that result in ship-over-ship improvements in quality, efficiency and affordability.
"With [the] Somerset, the Navy is getting another very capable and adaptable amphibious warship designed and built to enable sailors and Marines to accomplish their missions."
Huntington Ingalls Industries, parent company of Ingalls Shipbuilding, said the Somerset completed builder's trials in August and Navy acceptance trials last month. Two additional LPDs are under construction at the company's facility in Pascagoula, Miss. One will be completed in 2016 and the other the following year.
