The Navy’s USS Portland (LPD 27), its next amphibious transport dock set for delivery later this summer, has successfully completed Builder’s Trials after four days underway.
LPD 27 returned to Huntington Ingalls Industries‘ [HII] shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., on June 30 following a series of at-sea tests including full power runs, self-defense detect-to-engage exercises, anchor handling demonstrations and evaluations of its combat and communications systems. Passing its Builder’s Trials means the LPD 27 must now be prepared for the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey to conduct final acceptance trials in August.
“Builder’s Trials is the Navy’s first opportunity to assess the operational readiness of the ship,” the LPD 17 class program manager for the Program Executive Office Ships Capt. Brian Metcalf said in a Navy statement. “Portland performed very well throughout the at-sea and in port testing. We’ll now focus on preparing the ship for Acceptance Trials later this summer.”
The LPD 27 will be the eleventh ship in the Navy’s LPD 17 San Antonio-class and is expected to be commissioned in the spring of next year. HII has delivered the first ten San Antonio-class ships used to deploy combat capabilities for Marine Expeditionary Units and Brigades, and capable of transporting helicopters and MV-22 tiltrotor aircraft.
“This successful sea trial is another testament to the quality work our shipbuilders continue to provide in the LPD program,” Brian Cuccias, president of HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding Division, said in a statement. “These are complex vessels, and I’m proud of our workforce, who have the skills and knowledge it takes to design, build and test these American warships.”