The amphibious transport dock ship USS San Antonio transits through the Gulf of Oman. San Antonio is deployed as part of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group supporting maritime security operations in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (Navy via DVIDS)
SEA AIR SPACE 2023 — As an internal Pentagon feud about amphibious ships has gone unusually public, the Navy has awarded HII a new contract modification worth $1.3 billion to build the latest San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock.
The deal, known as the “detail design and construction contract,” sets HII in motion to begin construction in earnest of LPD-32, the third ship in the second flight of the San Antonio-class, one the various types of amphibious ships the Marines use to place personnel and equipment into strategic locations.
“This program is strong and has enabled the Department of Navy and Ingalls to establish a formidable capability based on a mature design, an ever-increasingly efficient production line, and a team of shipbuilders that keep the Navy’s critical industrial base network across the country strong,” Ingalls President Kari Wilkinson said in a statement following the contract’s Friday night announcement.
Ingalls is currently building three other LPDs that will ultimately replace the legacy class of dock landing ships, some of which the Navy are seeking to retire in its fiscal 2024 budget request.
Controversially, the Pentagon is not asking to buy any new amphibious ships in its latest budget request, leading to a rare public back-and-forth involving the Navy, Marines, their congressional supporters and Pentagon leadership.
The row has involved strong words of outrage from the three-star Marine Corps command charged with developing warfighting tech, a narrative from political appointees that has failed to appease lawmakers and at least one instance of the services’ most senior officers publicly contradicting each other.
Different Navy leaders have said that the “strategic pause” to stop buying amphibious ships was a choice driven by the Office of the Secretary of Defense while also saying the cost of the vessel has caused concerns.
Whatever the real reason is behind the decision, all signs so far point to lawmakers in charge of overseeing Navy shipbuilding as being uninterested and unconvinced by the Pentagon’s arguments.
“This is not a suggestion. It’s a law… This is something the Navy, the Marine Corps worked on and out of the gate you guys said, ‘Eh, maybe we’ll just blow off those senators and congressman,” Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Ala., said to a panel of Navy leaders at a recent congressional hearing, referring to a law enacted last year that requires the Navy to maintain at least 31 amphibious ships. “I’m actually really pissed about this… How do you answer this? My view is, there is no answer.
“My view [is] the Navy should be pretty darn worried about a headline saying ‘Navy on path to violate 31 amphib ship requirement in 2024,’” Sullivan, who became visibly angry during the hearing, continued. “What you guys need to do before you issue the budget is come to this committee given how important this was … and not surprise us with a violation of a law.”
