Kaohsiung, June 2 (CNA) The Republic of China Navy on Friday celebrated the arrival at the Tsoying naval base in southern Taiwan of an Anchorage-class dock landing ship (LSD) leased from the United States.
ROC Fleet Vice Commodore Huang Cheng-yun said at a welcoming ceremony that after the 30-year-old vessel, renamed Hsuhai (Radiant Sea), has completed combat readiness training in mid-June, it will replace the 50-year-old LSD Chungcheng.
Anchorage-class ships, which are still in active service in the US Navy, are fast and have large troop transport capacities, two qualities that will greatly enhance the ROC Navy's amphibious operational strength, Huang added.
Formerly named the USS Pensacola (LSD-38), the Hsuhai will join the navy's Newport-class tank landing ships (LST) Chungho and Chungping to form a high-speed amphibious flotilla for rapid response missions.
The Hsuhai is one of just five vessels of its class. It is 171 meters long and 25 meters wide with a full displacement tonnage of 13,700 tons. It was constructed by General Dynamics at their Quincy, Massachusetts, facility and was commissioned by the US Navy in 1971.
The LSD has a maximum speed of 22 knots and can sail for 14,800 nautical miles without refueling. Armed with a Phalanx air defense system, it can accommodate 360 fully equipped infantrymen in addition to light LST's and amphibious tanks.
Hsuhai is the first of two Anchorage-class LSD's that the ROC Navy has leased from the United States through the foreign military sales (FMS) program. The only other decommissioned US vessel in its class is the USS Fort Fisher (LSD-40), currently berthed in Benecia, California, according to the US Navy's Naval Vessel Register. (By Wen-Hung Fang)
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
