LHD-1 Wasp class References
In February 1984, Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., was awarded the contract to build the lead ship of the LHD 1 class. WASP weighed more than 27,000 tons when moved onto the Ingalls floating dry-dock on July 30, 1987 for launch on August 4, 1987, becoming the largest man-made object rolled across land. USS Wasp was commissioned June 24, 1989 in Norfolk, Virginia.
The second LHD was awarded in September 1986 in a competitive bid, also to Ingalls, as a single ship with options, which were awarded in 1988 and 1989.
Fabrication work for KEARSARGE (LHD-3) began at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi on March 6, 1989. Joseph J. Went, USMC, Assistant Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, authenticated KEARSARGE's keel laying on Febuary 6, 1990, and LHD 3 was launched on March 26, 1992.
The amphibious assault ship Boxer was commissioned on 11 Feburary 1995 in Pascagoula, Miss., where the ship was built by Ingalls Shipbuilding Co. The $341 million ship was the fourth Wasp-class vessel, It took 2 years from USS Boxer's commissioning before the ship was ready for a 6-month deployment.
In December 1991, Ingalls won a major competition to build a fifth LHD. Fabrication work for BATAAN (LHD-5) began at the Ingalls Shipbuilding facility on August 2, 1993, and the ship's keel was laid on March 16, 1994. LHD-5 was launched on March 15, 1996. LHD-5 is the Navy's first amphibious assault ship designed and built from the keel up with accommodations for female sailors. This "Women at Sea" modification provides LHD-5 with living areas for nearly 450 female officers, chiefs, enlisted personnel and embarked troops. Overall, the ship has living areas for nearly 3,200 crew members and troops.
The 1991 LHD-5 contract included an option exercised with Ingalls in December 1992 for the construction of LHD 6, and an option exercised in December 1995 for the construction of LHD 7. LHDs beyond number five will go toward replacing the aging LPHs which will reach the end of their service lives from the mid 1990s on.
Funding for the LHD-6 was provided in two stages in fiscal year 1993 and in fiscal year 1994. In 1993, at the initiative of the Appropriations Committee, the Congress appropriated $50 million to initiate advanced funding for the LHD-7. The conferees of the defense appropriations bill noted that they expected the Navy to request funds in fiscal year 1995 for the balance of the ship before the Navy obligated the $50 million appropriated. However, instead of requesting the additional funds, the Navy sought to rescind $50 million from this appropriations. The Defense Department reviewed this issue in its fiscal year 1995 budget and determined that it could not afford to purchase the LHD-7 in fiscal year 1995. It argued that 11 large deck carriers fulfill 96 percent of the forward presence requirements of the Navy and Marine Corps. It also noted that the first LHA ship will not need to be retired until the year 2011, and therefore the Department recommended that the Navy and Marines wait until the turn of the century to build the LHD-7. The Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff determined that sealift ships were a higher priority, and the President's fiscal year 1995 budget requests reflected this priority--it requested funds for sealift, and did request funds for the LHD-7.
Proponents argued that the the contract option on LHD-7 would expire in December 1994, and that if the contract option expired and the Congress waited until the year 2000 to get the seventh LHD it would cost $800 million more. However the $600 million set aside by the Congress in 1994 to incrementally fund in two parts LHD-7 was not sufficient for the Navy to award a contract for that ship, since LHD-7 was expected to cost about $1.3 billion or $1.4 billion. The LHD-7 was incrementally funded at 40 percent of its actual costs of $1.4 billion. In addition to authorizing $600 million in fiscal year 1995, the Congress approved the additional $800 million the following year.
Fabrication work for IWO JIMA (LHD-7) began at the Ingalls Shipbuilding facility on September 3, 1996, and the ship's keel was laid on December 12, 1997. LHD-7 was launched on February 4, 2000. LHD-7 is the Navy's third amphibious assault ship designed and built from the keel up with accommodations for female sailors. This "Women at Sea" modification provides LHD-7 with living areas for nearly 450 female officers, chiefs, enlisted personnel and embarked troops. Overall, the ship has living areas for nearly 3,200 crew members and troops.
The Senate's FY1999 Defense Authorization bill included a $45 advanced procurement funding (since adjusted to $44 million) on an additional $1.5 billion amphibious assault ship that was not requested by the Navy in its then-current FY1998-FY2003 FYDP. The committee recommended the increase for procurement of long lead materials for the construction of LHD-8 in lieu of a future SLEP for LHA-1. The Navy's plan was to conduct a service life extension program (SLEP) overhaul on the Tarawa class amphibious assault (LHA) ships when they reach the 35 year point in their operating life. The SLEP would provide another 15 years of life at a cost of nearly $1.0 billion per SLEP.
The LHA can transport one LCAC when the LCAC is placed in the well deck sideways, while the Wasp class amphibious assault (multipurpose)(LHD) ship carries two LCACs which drive in and drive out of the well deck fully loaded. The LHD has 20,000 more cubic feet storage capacity but 5,000 square feet less vehicle storage than an LHA. The LHD has more hangar and deck space than an LHA giving the LHD the capacity to carry three more CH-46 helicopters than the LHA. A Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) with an LHA as the large deck amphibious ship requires three additional ships to provide the capabilities required of an MEU. When an LHD is the large deck amphibious ship in the MEU, one to two fewer ships are needed to support the MEU.
In the view of the Senate, replacing the LHA with an LHD would provide a platform with the capability to support 21st century requirements. The service life estimate for a LHD is 35 years while the LHA SLEP will add an additional 15 years of life. From a force capitalization perspective, the Navy will have 20 more years of ship life at a drastically reduced procurement cost per year of life by building the LHD instead of performing a SLEP on the LHA. In addition, authorizing construction of a new LHD will leverage efficiencies gained by continuing an experienced workforce which will be completing LHD-7.
The following year the Clinton Administration included LHD-8 in the final year of its new FY2000-FY2005 FYDP submitted to Congress in February 1999, with advanced procurement funding for the ship programmed in FY2004. Under the Administration's FY2000 budget request submitted in early 1999, investments in amphibious assault ships continued during the FYDP period, with funds for one additional LHD-class ship programmed in FY 2005. Acquisition of an eighth ship would provide sufficient large-deck amphibious assault vessels to sustain a 12-ARG force when the first ship of the LHA-1 class reaches the end of its 35-year service life around 2010. Studies being conducted by the Navy are examining cost-effective design changes that could be incorporated into LHD-8.
The Defense Department's Fiscal Year 2000 funding bill, which was approved by the Congress in October 1999, included an appropriation of $375 million (since adjusted to $356 million) for the Navy's eighth multipurpose amphibious assault ship, LHD-8, to be built at Ingalls [Mississippi's largest employer]. This funding followed $45 million appropriated by Congress in 1998 for advanced engineering on the ship, making $420 million available to the Navy for initial funding for an 8th LHD. Its construction can follow directly in line behind LHD 7. US Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott called the FY 2000 Defense Appropriations Bill the best in a number of years. "It includes funding for acquisition of LHD 8 and other Ingalls programs which are vital to our nation's evolving defense needs," said Senator Lott.
The Clinton Administration responded to these actions by retaining LHD-8 in the final year of its amended FY2000-FY2005 FYDP and eliminating the advanced procurement funding it had previously programmed for the ship in FY2004. The Future Year Defense Program (FYDP) accompanying the budget request included LHD 8 advance procurement in fiscal year 2004 and full funding in fiscal year 2005. Procuring LHD-8 in 2005 would create a nine-year gap in procurement between LHD-7 and LHD-8. This would likely cause a break in the production line at Ingalls and a consequent increase in the procurement cost of LHD-8 due to the costs associated with restarting the LHD production line. The FY2001 House authorization bill authorized an increase of $10.0 million for advance procurement of LHD 8. The Senate amendment would authorize an increase of $460.0 million to continue the advance procurement and advance construction of components for the LHD 8 amphibious ship. The conferees agreed to authorize an increase of $460.0 million to continue the advance procurement and advance construction of components for the LHD 8 amphibious ship.
The projected price-tag for the last of the Wasp class is approximately $1.8 billion. The Navy is reviewing the technical feasibility of a hull design change for LHD-8, which will increase the ship's vehicle-square, cargo-cube, and troop-carrying capacity, and increase the cost somewhat. There are important changes in the LHD 8 design from the previous LHD 1 class ships. The most significant change is to the propulsion system, where gas turbines replace the previous steam system, a machinery control system, and auxiliary propulsion motors. The LHD 8 gas turbine engines will be based on those currently used on Navy ships, but include modified power turbines, compressors, and inlet guide vanes. Other changes affect internal engineering support arrangements, including enclosures, compressor starting, cooling, bleed-air, fire suppression, fuel service and transfer, lube oil systems, and intakes/exhausts. Drive train changes involve reduction gear modifications (to allow power from both the gas turbine engines and new auxiliary propulsion motors) and the use of controllable pitch propellers. The ship's electrical systems differ significantly from previous LHDs because of the replacement of steam-driven turbine generators with diesel generators and the switch from a 440-volt radial system to a 4160/440 volt zonal distribution system. Other engineering-related changes include the planned installation of all-electric utilities and the replacement of steam evaporators by reverse osmosis units.
LHD 8 will be equipped with the SSDS Mark 2 (Mod 3) combat system, currently in development. LHD 8's SSDS Mark 2 combat system will be similar to the CVN's version (Mod 1). Associated changes are expected to auxiliary systems, such as chilled water, air conditioning, electrical distribution, local area networks, and low-pressure air systems, since these services are platform-specific. Unlike LHD 7, LHD 8 will have an AN/SPQ-9B surface search radar as part of its combat system. The ship's C4I systems will also be updated to reflect the state-of-the-art at the time the ship is outfitted.
Construction of the ships of the class continues at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, MS. The Navy commissioned its last oil-fired steam-turbine ship, the USS Iwo Jima, in a landmark ceremony in June 2001. The LHD-8, which is scheduled to enter the fleet in 2007, will be the Navy's first amphibious ship with gas turbine engines. The switch to gas turbine propulsion is expected to reduce the ship's crew of about 1,200 sailors by 90. General Electric's development of a more powerful gas turbine engine -- the "LM 2500 plus" -- several years ago gave the Navy an opportunity to make the transition.
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