Sailors assigned to the amphibious assault ship USS America participate in small boat operations in the Philippine Sea on Aug. 1, 2024. (Cole Pursley/U.S. Navy)
WASHINGTON — The Navy is preparing to award a $11.5 billion deal for four new warships next month in an effort to have at least 31 amphibious ships ready to respond to a crisis, the service’s top civilian leader wrote to a House lawmaker.
The sea service has agreed to purchase three San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks and one America-class amphibious assault ship, according to a letter from Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro sent Aug. 14 to Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. The amphibious warships are used to deploy Marines, transporting troops, vehicles and other equipment.
“The ships procured as part of this contract will support amphibious assault, special operations and expeditionary warfare missions of U.S. Marines, moving Marines into theater and supporting humanitarian and contingency missions on short notice,” Del Toro wrote.
Lawmakers and Navy leaders have butted heads in recent years about the size of the fleet, with Marine Corps officials in public remarks calling attention to the number of in-service amphibious ships that are not operationally ready because they are undergoing or need maintenance and repair work.
In 2022, Gen. David Berger, then-commandant of the Marine Corps, wrote a letter to the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee arguing 31 amphibious ships were necessary to maintain readiness and “reliably react to unforeseen contingencies.” Navy leaders in years prior suggested shrinking the fleet without plans to replace ships that were retiring.
In response, lawmakers in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, an annual law that sets policy and spending priorities for the Defense Department, called on the Navy to have “not less than 31 operational amphibious warfare ships” to be at full strength. The NDAA permitted the Navy to procure up to five amphibious ships in a block-buy purchase to replace aging warships that will be retired in the coming years.
The legislation also required the Navy to submit a certification endorsement to Congress at least 30 days before signing the contract.
The first dock ship in the block-buy would be procured in fiscal 2025 for $2.2 billion. A second dock ship would be procured in fiscal 2027 for $2.3 billion, and a third in fiscal 2029 for $2.4 billion. The assault ship also would be procured in fiscal 2027 for $4.6 billion.
The Navy estimates the block-buy will save approximately $901 million.
The ships will be built at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division in Pascagoula, Miss.
The deal marks the end of a “strategic pause” on procuring new amphibious warships that Del Toro implemented in 2022. It was a decision that drew criticism from lawmakers, with Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., calling the Navy’s budget request “anemic” and stating Navy leaders had “failed yet again to build a Navy fleet that’s capable of … growing strong enough to deter near-term threats.”
After last week’s notification to Congress, Wicker praised the deal for being a “cost-effective way to provide stability for the industrial base.”
“I look forward to seeing these contracts through to their execution, and I believe that additional benefits could be obtained if we increase funding for material procurement in bulk,” Wicker said in an Aug. 15 statement.
