San-Antonio class amphibious dock ship USS Fort Lauderdale completes sea trials.

According to information published by U.S. Navy on October 27, 2021, the future USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28), the Navy’s 12th San Antonio class-amphibious transport dock ship, conducted Builder’s sea trials.
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San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ship USS Fort Lauderdale (Picture source: Twitter)

Builder’s trials consist of a series of in-port and at-sea demonstrations that allow the Navy and the shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Ingalls Shipbuilding Division to assess the ship’s systems and readiness prior to Acceptance trials and delivery to the Navy.

The San Antonio class is designed to support embarking, transporting, and landing Marines and their equipment by conventional or air-cushioned landing craft.

The ship’s capabilities are further enhanced by its flight deck and hangar, enabling the ship to operate a variety of Marine Corps helicopters and the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft (MV-22).

Because of the ships inherent capabilities, they are able to support a variety of amphibious assaults, special operations, expeditionary warfare, or disaster relief missions, operating independently or as part of Amphibious Readiness Groups (ARGs), Expeditionary Strike Groups, or Joint Task Forces.

HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding Division is currently in production of the future USS Richard S. McCool (LPD 29) and the future USS Harrisburg (LPD 30). LPD 28 and 29 will serve as transition ships to LPD 30 – the first LPD 17 Flight II ship.

The San Antonio class is a class of amphibious transport docks, also called a "landing platform, dock" (LPD), used by the United States Navy. The San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock has a length of 208.5 m, a beam of 31.9 m, and a draft of 7 m.

The ship can carry 14 amphibious combat vehicles including M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks, 60 tons of military equipment, and up to 800 troops.