Amphibious Ship San Antonio Christened
Navy Newsstand
Story Number: NNS030723-18
Release Date: 7/23/2003 4:09:00 PM
By Chief Journalist David Nagle, Naval Sea Systems Command Public Affairs
NEW ORLEANS (NNS) -- "I christen thee San Antonio!"
With those words and the crack of a bottle of Texas sparkling wine over the bow, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas christened the lead ship of the Navy's newest class of amphibious warship.
Hundreds of invited guests and shipyard employees were on hand as San Antonio (LPD 17) was christened during a ceremony July 19, at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems (NGSS) Avondale Operations in New Orleans.
"We are christening today the most advanced amphibious ship ever built," said Gen. Michael W. Hagee, commandant of the Marine Corps, during his address at the ceremony. "It is the first of a ship class that will take our Navy and Marine Corps team, as well as the nation, far into the 21st century."
San Antonio is the first ship named in honor of the city of San Antonio.
"The spirit, the gloried past, and the stubborn courage of the Alamo will sail inside San Antonio and every ship in the class," said Hutchison, San Antonio's sponsor. "For the San Antonio and its crew, we know they will serve with the same distinction that their forebearers did, and the fight for freedom will never be lost."
San Antonio is a ship of many other firsts. It is the first surface ship ever designed in "virtual reality," using computer modeling to design most of the ship before any steel was ever cut. It is the first amphibious ship to support the "mobility triad" of Advanced Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAAV), Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) and the tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey aircraft, and it is also the first to feature the Advanced Enclosed Mast/Sensor system that replaces conventional masts, protecting radar and communications antennas from weather and allowing their electronic signals to pass through.
NGSS' sites in Avondale and Tallulah, La., and Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss., are building San Antonio and its sister ships. Dr. Phillip Dur, NGSS president, called San Antonio a product of a "radically transformed shipbuilding enterprise."
"San Antonio will be a unique addition of the expeditionary strike groups of the future fleet," he said. "These ships are being built to fight and built to last."
The first four ships of the class, San Antonio, New Orleans (LPD 18), Mesa Verde (LPD 19) and Green Bay (LPD 20) are in various stages of construction. The San Antonio class ships are 648 feet long, 105 feet wide and will carry a crew of 361 Sailors and up to 800 Marines. It will be the functional replacement for the LPD 4, LSD 36, LKA 113 and LST 1179 classes of amphibious ships.
"LPD 17 will play a vital role in the success of our Navy Marine Corps team," said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vern Clark in a written statement. "It will carry our joint combat forces to the fight with increased lift capability, superior command and control capabilities, and improved ship survivability. It will give our expeditionary strike groups greater speed, agility and reach, and will help us to operate from and dominate the near land battlespace, while improving the quality of life and work of our Sailors and Marines."
Several quality of life features are incorporated in San Antonio, including gender-neutral living quarters with sit-up berthing, a consolidated galley and improved e-mail, and Internet access via the Shipboard Wide Area Network, or SWAN.
Several prospective crew members attended the christening and expressed their enthusiasm about serving aboard San Antonio.
"This is awesome," said Electronics Technician 1st Class (SW) Chad Rolph from Naval Service Training Center, who's career includes a tour aboard USS Guam (LPH 9). "This is a completely new dimension of ship. A lot of time went into building it."
"I am completely excited," added Electronics Technician 3rd Class Jamie Labauve, a New Orleans native from Naval Air Station Key West. "I'm looking forward to learning everything about the ship, how it works and how it runs. I wish I could get aboard it right now."
Cmdr. Jon Padfield, San Antonio's prospective commanding officer, was as equally elated, feeling like "an 8-year-old kid with his first Corvette."
"This is the high point of my career," said Padfield, a Salt Lake City native currently commanding USS Comstock (LSD 45). "It's a great honor to have a ship like this with a fabulous crew."
His advice to his future crew? "Be excited. This ship will be the best."
San Antonio is scheduled for commissioning in 2005 and will be homeported in Norfolk, Va.
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