Lhds News

The Navy wants, and needs, more ships; but it can’t build them fast enough.While the U.S. Navy aims to achieve a 355-ship fleet, it is decommissioning older (and some not so old) ships at about the same rate it's adding new ones.A Congressional Research Service report stated that, as of April 17, 2023, the Navy included 296 battle force ships. "The Navy projects that under its FY2024 budget submission, the Navy would include 293 battle force ships at the end of FY2024 and 291 battle force ships at the end of FY2028."But there is progress…

Naval Ship Management (NSM) has partnered with L3Harris Technologies to provide engineering, maintenance and supply chain solutions to support Australia’s largest warship - the Canberra Class Amphibious Assault Ship, also known as the Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD), and its associated assets.Under the 4.5-year subcontractor agreement, L3Harris will be responsible for the Integrated Communication Systems (ICS) maintenance and support, as well as the Through Life Support Facility (TLSF)…

French shipbuilder Naval Group has signed nine different memoranda of understanding (MoU) with Australian companies to manufacture its countermeasure solutions for the Royal Australian Navy in Australia.The specialist in naval defence and marine renewable energy said that its Pacific unit is proposing a breakthrough in anti-torpedo countermeasures for Australia’s submarine and surface ship programs with CANTO, the latest countermeasure generation based on Dilution/Confusion multi-effects.This breakthrough in the field of anti-torpedo defence, applies the dilution/confusion concept to defend High Value and Mission Essential Units by generating a high-level acoustic signals over 360-degree…

Naval Ship Management (NSM), an existing joint venture between Babcock and UGL, has been awarded the support and sustainment program for two Landing Helicopter Docks (LHDs) at the Garden Island Defence Precinct in NSW, following a competitive bidding process.The announcement made today by the Australian Minister for Defence, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, confirmed NSM was selected by the Australian Defence Force to sustain and support two LHDs and twelve LHD Landing Crafts (LLCs) for a period of 15 years.

As Congress wrestles with the budget, there is at least a bipartisan consensus that defense spending should grow, and that includes growing the Navy’s fleet. The current goal is 355 ships, an admirable goal, but an objective that faces many cost hurdles. The surface fleet (which excludes submarines and aircraft carriers) needs to grow in capability and capacity. The numbers of ships being procured or envisions would increase as the total n umber of ships increases, but the number in this story represents current program status.

French industrial group DCNS has delivered LHD (Landing Helicopter Dock) Anwar El Sadat, the second of two helicopter carriers acquired by the Arab Republic of Egypt. The flag transfer ceremony took place September 16, 2016 in the presence of the two Chiefs of Staff of the Egyptian and French navies, Admiral Rabie and Admiral Prazuck, the chairman and CEO of DCNS, Hervé Guillou, and the president of STX France, Laurent Castaing, together with senior French and Egyptian officials.

GE Marine reports that its LM2500 gas turbines now power the Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Adelaide which was commissioned in late 2015. Alongside sister HMAS Canberra, these 230-meter-long Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships are the largest vessels ever built for the RAN. According to the RAN, HMAS Adelaide was designed with the shallowest possible draft and can deploy an embarked force of more than 1,000 personnel and their equipment, landing ashore via landing craft or helicopters.

GE Marine’s LM2500 aeroderivative marine gas turbine now powers the Royal Australian Navy’s (RAN) recently commissioned HMAS Canberra Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ship, the first of two LHDs to be introduced into the RAN fleet. According to the RAN’s website, “Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Tim Barrett said that the commissioning was a step towards developing the future of the Navy. ‘HMAS Canberra is an exciting addition to the Royal Australian Navy. HMAS Canberra also marks another…

Governor General of Australia, His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove, AK, MC (Retd), together with the Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Mr Tony Abbott, MP, were the guests of honour today as Australia’s first Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) was welcomed into service in the Royal Australian Navy. The Australian White Ensign was raised for the first time, signaling that HMAS Canberra III was formally commissioned into the Fleet. Navy, Army and Air Force members of ship’s company lined the aircraft hangar as invited guests witnessed the historic event. Chief of Navy, Vice Admiral Tim Barrett, AO, CSC, RAN, said the commissioning was a step towards developing the future of the Navy. “HMAS Canberra is an exciting addition to the Royal Australian Navy.

Nuship Canberra, the first of two Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships being built for the Australian Defense Force, has sailed on her final contractor sea trials before delivery to the Australian Government. The ship departed Williamstown shipyard on August 12 as planned with the trials taking place in both Port Phillip Bay and off the southern coast of New South Wales before returning to Williamstown around the end of August. Final contractor trials involve testing of the combat and communication systems along with some platform systems trials.

More than 800 Australian Navy, Army and Air Force personnel are on their way home after taking part in RIMPAC, the world’s largest naval exercise, which concluded in Hawaii today. Australia sent the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ship HMAS Success and Submarine HMAS Sheean, a rifle company from 5th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment and three Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) AP-3C Orion aircraft to the exercise to conduct military training with defense forces from 21 other Pacific Rim nations.

Ship construction programs move ahead, but it’s not smooth sailing. Navies and Coast Guards everywhere face budgetary pressure, even in the U.S. which has the largest Navy in the world. The balance between desire for capacity and capability and pressure for affordability has never been more acute with the precarious budgetary issues presented by declining defense budgets, sequestration, continuing resolutions and government shutdowns. Even so, there are ongoing major construction efforts to include large nuclear aircraft carriers and submarines…

The second and last of the Royal Australian Navy’s new amphibious ships has left the builder's yard, Navantia Ferrol shipyard, Vigo, in northern Spain, bound for Melbourne, informs the Australia Defence Force. “The Canberra-Class LHDs are the largest ships ever built for the Navy and will provide the Australian Defence Force with one of the most capable and sophisticated amphibious deployment capabilities in the world,” Defence Minister Senator David Johnston said. When completed the LHDs will be more than 230 metres long, 27.5 metres high and weigh around 27,500 tonnes.

Edward Lundquist talks to welder and apprentice instructor Ashley Wilber at BAE Systems Ship Repair’s Norfolk shipyard. Tell me how you came to be a welder here at BAE Systems Ship Repair. I have been here at BAE Systems going on seven years now. I was just doing odd jobs out of high school – Hardee’s, driving jobs like delivering pizzas – anything that was making money. I have a cousin, who at the time was an electrician apprentice, and he was telling me about the shipyard. I’d never heard of a shipyard even though I drove past it all the time.

The Navy’s first Canberra-Class Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) warship arrives at its Victoria, Australian home for the next 12 months. The LHD01 hull has been transported from Spain to Australia by Heavy Lift Ship, Blue Marlin, taking around eight weeks for the 12,000 nautical miles ( approx 18,520 km) to deliver the first LHD. Senior Project Manager for Dockwise, Frank Berrens, said that he was proud the company could assist in the delivery and provide the hull to BAE Systems ready to commence work on the next phase.

Mast modules for the 27,000 tonne Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD), fabricated and constructed at BAE Systems Henderson, facility are now completed and ready to be transported to Melbourne. The three mast modules weighing between 19 and 36 tonnes will form part of the superstructure of the LHDs and will house equipment including communication and combat systems, navigation and air traffic control radars and infrared search and track sensors. The mast modules will be loaded onto the heavy lift ship Henan Scan berthed at BAE Systems wharf at their Henderson load-out facility.

BAE Systems recently completed a four week repair docking for the platform supply vessel (PSV) the ‘Lady Kari-Ann’ in its Williamstown shipyard. Owned by Farstad Shipping, the Lady Kari-Ann is the first commercial ship repair project undertaken in the yard since 2009. Work on the vessel included a 30-year survey, paint work on the hull, superstructure and tanks as well as underwater valves and other mechanical work associated with the ship’s propulsion. Director of BAE Systems Maritime…

The signature of a contract for two Mistral class helicopter carriers (LHDs), and associated services, between DCNS and the Russian defence export agency Rosoboronexport took place in St. Petersburg on June 17, 2011. STX France will undertake the construction of the ships at its Saint-Nazaire shipyard under a subcontract with DCNS. The Russian shipbuilder OSK will provide part of the hull of both ships. The first ship will be delivered to Russia in 2014 and the second LHD will be delivered in 2015. The vessels will have a length of 199 meters, a displacement of 22,000 tons and a speed in excess of 18 knots. Previously, STX France and DCNS have built three Mistral class LHDs for the French Navy. Mistral and Tonnerre were delivered to the French Navy in 2006 and 2007, respectively.

The U.S. Navy began installing stern flaps in April on amphibious ships in an effort make ships more fuel efficient and save up to $450,000 in fuel costs per ship annually. USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41), the first dock landing ship to receive stern flaps, began the installation process mid-April during a scheduled maintenance availability in Norfolk, Va. The ship is expected to head back to sea in late November. "A stern flap, located on the aft end of a ship, makes the ship more hydrodynamic…

Siemens Marine Solutions has been commissioned by the Spanish shipyard Navantia S.A. to equip two new multi-functional supply ships with pod propulsion units and power supply equipment. The final customer is the Australian navy which intends to use the two ships to improve the range of its amphibian deployment capabilities. To this end, the ships (LHDs - Landing Helicopter Docks) will be equipped with up to twelve helicopters. Both ships will be built in Ferrol in the north-west of Spain and the final equipment will be installed at the Tenix shipyard in Australia. The order is worth some $67.5m. Siemens is responsible for all the electrical propulsion and power supply equipment for the two ships.

The future USS Makin Island (LHD 8) successfully underwent Builder's Trials Dec. 13 in the Gulf of Mexico. The trials mark the first time this amphibious assault ship has gone to sea on its own power. "The ship performed very well during these trials," said Capt. Jeff Riedel, the amphibious ships program manager in the Navy's Program Executive Office (PEO), Ships. These trials, conducted by Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding (NGSB), made history in two ways. Makin Island is the first LHD to get underway on gas turbine engines and the first LHD to get underway on electric propulsion motors. Makin Island's first-of-kind hybrid gas turbine electric drive propulsion system will provide substantial fuel savings and increased operational flexibility over the life of the ship.

The rewards reaped from the Navy's Energy Conservation (ENCON) Program save millions in fuel costs, while keeping ships at sea to support the nation's Maritime Strategy. ENCON includes two major energy conservation and management programs spearheaded by Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in One is the Incentivized Energy Conservation (i-ENCON) Program; the other is the Fleet Readiness, Research and Development Program (FRR&DP). According to i-ENCON Program Manager Hasan Pehlivan, the programs are projected to save more than 1.14 million barrels of oil in 2008, enough to fill four million 12-gallon car gas tanks, resulting in a record cost avoidance of more than $157 million.

The U.S. Navy today awarded a $1.37 billion construction contract to Northrop Grumman Corporation to construct the eighth ship of the USS Wasp (LHD 1) class of multipurpose amphibious assault ships. Construction of LHD 8 is expected to begin in May 2003 at Ingalls Operations, which is part of Northrop Grumman's Ship Systems sector. This contract includes $360 million previously awarded for advance work on the ship, including design, equipment procurement and fabricating selected ship assemblies. Ingalls has delivered seven LHDs into the fleet, the most recent being USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), which was commissioned in June 2001. "This LHD 8 contract award is great news for our company and our Ship Systems sector," said Dr. Philip A. Dur, president of Northrop Grumman Ship Systems.