Mesa Verde Moves Toward Delivery and Commissioning

Northrop Grumman's third amphibious transport dock ship Mesa Verde (LPD 19) just completed acceptance trials for the U.S. Navy. The ship will be delivered later this month and will be commissioned in Panama City, Fla., on Dec. 15, 2007. The Northrop Grumman-built amphibious transport dock ship Mesa Verde (LPD 19) successfully maneuvered the Gulf of Mexico waters last week, demonstrating her unique capabilities to the U.S. Navy.

Mesa Verde's mission is to embark, transport and land elements of a landing force in a variety of expeditionary and special operations missions. She will be commissioned in Panama City, Fla. on Dec. 15, 2007.

Mesa Verde is an LPD 17-class ship. The ship is 208.4 meters (684 feet) long, 31.9 meters (105 feet) wide, and will replace the functions of the LPD 4, LSD 36, LKA 113, and LST 1179 classes of amphibious ships. This new ship class affords the Navy's Expeditionary Strike Group with the technology and flexibility to launch and recover amphibious landing craft such as the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), operate an array of rotary-wing aircraft, and carry and launch the U.S. Marine Corps' Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.