Article Posted on : - May 17, 2011

AVONDALE, LOUISIANA (BNS): The US Navy has christened its newest amphibious transport dock ship Anchorage (LPD 23), the seventh ship in the USS San Antonio class of ships.

Anchorage being built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is currently 82 percent complete and is expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2012.

LPD 23 is the second ship named Anchorage. The first ship, LSD 36, also built at Ingalls Shipbuilding, completed 19 missions to become a highly decorated Marine amphibious landing ship before her decommissioning in 2003.

As an element of future expeditionary strike groups, Anchorage will support Marine Corps ship-to-shore mobility, which consists of the landing craft air cushion vehicle, amphibious assault vehicles and the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.

The ship will provide improved warfighting capabilities, including an advanced command-and-control suite, increased lift-capability in vehicle and cargo-carrying capacity and advanced ship-survivability features. The ship is capable of embarking a landing force of up to 800 Marines.

The 24,900-ton Anchorage is 684 feet in length, has an overall beam of 105 feet, and a navigational draft of 23 feet. Four turbo-charged diesels power the ship to sustained speeds of 22 knots.