Pre-Commissioning Unit Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28) Commanding Officer Capt. James Quaresimo (front center), Command Master Chief James Magee (front left) and Acting Executive Officer Cmdr. Charles Marshall pose with the crew in the well deck after accepting delivery of the ship. Delivery marks the official transfer of the ship from the shipbuilder to the Navy. (Dustin Knight/U.S. Navy)
PASCAGOULA, Miss. (Tribune News Service) — No, Ingalls Shipbuilding doesn’t deliver ships as fast as Domino’s delivers pizza. It only seems that way.
The Pascagoula shipyard recently turned over ownership of the amphibious transport dock ship USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28) to the U.S. Navy during a formal ceremony aboard the ship, where representatives from Ingalls and the Navy signed the official documents transferring custody of the ship.
USS Fort Lauderdale is the 12th in the San Antonio class of ships to be built by Ingalls.
“We at Ingalls are honored to support our customer on the national security mission at the heart of this work,” said Ingalls president Kari Wilkinson. “Mindful of safety and quality, we are incredibly proud of the collaborative Navy-industry team that delivers this vital capability.”
LPD 28 is named in honor of the Florida city’s historic ties to the U.S. Navy, which date back to the 1830s and include service as an important naval training center during World War II.
“What a great tradition to be part of,” said Steve Sloan, Ingalls LPD program manager. “This delivery event is the culmination of hard work and dedication of thousands of shipbuilders, industry partners from just about every state, as well as our Navy Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Gulf Coast, shipmates that worked with us each and every day to ensure Fort Lauderdale became a mission capable ship.”
Ingalls has two additional San Antonio-class ships under construction, including Richard M. McCool Jr. (LPD 29) and Harrisburg (LPD 30), the latter of which is the first of the LPD Flight II ships, designed as the replacement for the aging Whidbey Island-class LSDs. In addition, fabrication of the 15th San Antonio-class ship, Pittsburgh (LPD 31), is scheduled to begin later this year.
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