Article Posted on : - Mar 03, 2014

USS Somerset. A US Navy photo

PHILADELPHIA (BNS): The US Navy has commissioned its latest San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ship, USS Somerset (LPD 25), on March 1.

The 24,900-ton warship, built by Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Shipbuilding, was commissioned during a ceremony at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia.

The San Antonio-class LPDs have been designed to provide the US Navy and Marine Corps with modern, sea-based platforms that are networked, survivable and built to operate with 21st century platforms.

As the ninth San Antonio-class LPD, USS Somerset's design incorporates state-of-the-art self-defence capabilities, including command and control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) suites.

The 684 feet-long and 105 feet-wide warship's prime mission is to deploy combat and support elements of Marine Expeditionary Units and Brigades.

It is capable of carrying up to 800 troops and transporting and debarking air cushion (LCAC) or conventional landing crafts, augmented by helicopters or vertical take-off and landing aircraft such as the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft.

The US Navy intends to possess 11 such LPDs for which it has contracted the HII.

Collectively, they are set to replace more than 41 ships (the LPD 4, LSD 36, LKA 113 and LST 1179 classes of amphibious ships) of the US Navy and Marine Corps.