Huntington Ingalls Constructing Amphibious Assault Ship For US Navy

Huntington Ingalls Industries is constructing America-class second amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli for the US Navy.

The LHA (Landing Helicopter Assault) 7 will be capable to hold Marine Corps F-35B Joint Strike Fighters and also other aircraft such as MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor, CH-53 Super Stallions, and UH-1Y Huey helicopters, US expert in civil-military relations and cyber diplomacy Franz-Stefan said.

The USS Tripoli has the capacity to hold 1,871 troops and a crew of 1,204.

The one third of ship’s construction is complete and is scheduled for launch in July 2017. Further, it is slated for induction to the Navy in December 2018.

“Fabrication has started on 211 units, 97% of all units, and 84 grand blocks are erected 47% of the total," US Navy spokesman Mathew Leonard was quoted as saying by Military.com Thursday.

Navy spokesman Mathew Leonard emphasized that the LHA 7 was designed as a "repeat" of the LHA 6 with a number of limited changes to the ship's fight deck structure and equipment in order to hold the F-35B aircraft.

"The Navy and Ingalls have identified lessons learned from design and construction of LHA 6 for incorporation into design and construction of LHA 7 to improve production and quality," Leonard added.

The USS Tripoli will be 844-feet long, 106-feet wide and weigh over 44,000 tons. Its turbine propulsion system will allow the vessel to reach speeds of more than 20 knots (23 miles per hour).

America-class ships are outfitted with Self Defense Systems that includes two Rolling Aircraft Missile launchers; two Raytheon 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts; and seven twin .50 cal. machine guns.