The US Navy has completed factory testing of a new USS Portland transport dock (LPD 27).
USS Portland is the eleventh of the twelve ordered landing ships of the San Antonio type, which are capable of transporting soldiers along with equipment (amphibious assault ships, amphibious armored personnel carriers, helicopters and converters), and are intended to replace the amphibious dock transports of the Cleveland and Trenton types.
USS Portland was laid in August 2013 of the year, and in February last year it came off the stocks. Already by the end of the summer, the US Navy plans to carry out ship acceptance tests, and at the beginning of next year, USS Portland should be operational. The length of the ship is 208 m, the width is 32 m, the draft at full load does not exceed 7 m. The ship with a displacement of 25 300 t is capable of speeding up to 20 nodes (41 km / h) and can simultaneously carry two amphibious assault ships on an LCACS airbag, one LCU landing craft, fourteen amphibious armored personnel carriers and at least 700 paratroopers. In addition, in its stern part there is a helipad, on which up to four helicopters or two convertible planes MV-22В Osprey can be based. The crew of the transport dock consists of 350 people.
Ships of the San Antonio type have only defensive armament: two Mk44 Bushmaster II guns of caliber 30 mm, two Mk 41 rocket launchers designed to engage air targets, as well as several twin machine guns M2 Browning. The cost of building one ship of the San Antonio type is $ 1,6 billion. In the future, the US Defense Department plans to install offensive weapons on ships of this class.
- skyscrapercity.com
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