| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS San Antonio |
| Namesake: | The city of San Antonio, Texas |
| Awarded: | 17 December 1996 |
| Builder: | Northrop Grumman Ship Systems |
| Laid down: | 9 December 2000 |
| Launched: | 12 July 2003 |
| Sponsored by: | Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison |
| Commissioned: | 14 January 2006 |
| Homeport: | Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia |
| Motto: | "Never Retreat, Never Surrender" |
| Status: | in active service, as of 2012[update] |
| Notes: | Program cost $18.6 billion[1] Unit cost $1.7 billion (FY 2011)[2] |
| Badge: | |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock |
| Displacement: | 25,000 tons full |
| Length: | 208.5 m (684 ft) overall, 201.4 m (661 ft) waterline |
| Beam: | 31.9 m (105 ft) extreme, 29.5 m (97 ft) waterline |
| Draft: | 7 m (23 ft) |
| Propulsion: | Four Colt-Pielstick diesel engines, two shafts, 40,000 hp (30 MW) |
| Speed: | 22 knots (41 km/h) |
| Boats and landing craft carried: |
Two LCACs (air cushion); OR One LCU (conventional) |
| Capacity: | 699 (66 officers, 633 enlisted); surge to 800 total. |
| Complement: | 363 (28 officers, 335 enlisted)[3] |
| Electronic warfare and decoys: |
Radar: AN/SPS-48E, AN/SPQ-9B, AN/SPS-73. EW: AN/SLQ-25A Nixie, AN/SLQ-32A(V)2, Mark 36 SRBOC, MK 53 / Nulka.[4] |
| Armament: | Two 30 mm Bushmaster II cannons, for surface threat defense Two Rolling Airframe Missile launchers for air defense |
| Aircraft carried: | Four CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters OR two MV-22 tilt rotor aircraft may be launched or recovered simultaneously. |
USS San Antonio (LPD-17), the lead ship of her class of amphibious transport dock or landing platform dock, is the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the city of San Antonio, Texas. The ship is designed to deliver up to 800 Marines ashore by landing craft and helicopters.
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The construction contract was awarded on 17 December 1996 to Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans, Louisiana and the keel was laid down on 9 December 2000. The ship was launched on 12 July 2003 and christened on 19 July by Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. She was originally scheduled to be commissioned 17 July 2002, but was delayed by poor performance at the Avondale shipyard, which resulted in her being towed from New Orleans to the Northrop Grumman shipyard at Pascagoula, Mississippi, in December 2004 for completion. The ship was unable to move under her own power at that time, despite have been christened more than a year earlier.
The crew took delivery and moved aboard three days before Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005. Work was delayed further when the ship became a base for regional relief efforts, including accommodations for some shipyard workers, the National Guard, Navy diving and salvage personnel and government officials. The ship's final cost was $840 million over budget.[5]
The ship arrived in her homeport of Norfolk, Va., on 18 December 2005. The ship was finally commissioned 14 January 2006, at NS Ingleside Texas under the command of Captain Jonathan M. Padfield. Guest speakers included former U.S. President George H. W. Bush. Senator Hutchison, the ship's sponsor, gave the crew the customary first command, "Man our ship, and bring her to life!"
San Antonio is the first U.S. Navy vessel to incorporate new crew comfort features, including bunks with increased headroom, in-rack fans, and pull-out laptop computer shelves. She is also the largest U.S. Navy vessel to incorporate stealth features, with close attention paid to exterior shaping.
USS San Antonio was designated as the flagship of Combined Task Force 151, the multi-national anti-piracy naval force off Somalia. The ship would serve as an afloat forward staging base (AFSB) for the following force elements:
During its time off Africa, the crew boarded 20 foreign vessels. The crew discovered hidden explosives on one of the vessels. The ship returned to Norfolk on 27 March 2009.[5]
Nearly three years after commissioning, problems persist with this first-in-class vessel. On 27 January 2006, a contract worth over $6 million was awarded to Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding , for the Post-Shakedown Availability of USS San Antonio. Work was expected to be completed by April 2007. On 22 June 2007, Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter sent a letter to Northrop Grumman outlining problems with the ship, from leaks to steerage issues, stating, "Twenty-three months after commissioning of LPD 17, the Navy still does not have a mission-capable ship.[12][13]
On 27 August 2008, San Antonio was unable to deploy as scheduled with the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG), due to a mechanical failure in the stern gate of her well deck, which would prevent proper loading and deployment of landing craft. The problem was fixed and San Antonio deployed two days late, on 29 August 2008.[14]
Two months into her maiden deployment, San Antonio had been forced to undergo an unplanned maintenance stop in Bahrain due to leaks in its lube oil piping system.[15] During inspections in summer 2009 it was found that over 1,000 feet of piping had to be replaced.
In late November the ship's four diesel engines were out of commission and needed to be re-inspected after metal shavings were found in the engine's main reduction gears from when the shipyard workers at the shipbuilder, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems had improperly welded the piping.
During a February 2009 transit of the Suez Canal, with both engines at full power, one engine suddenly went into reverse, sending the vessel careening out of control and narrowly missing hitting other ships and running aground.[16]
In response to these problems the Navy finally got approval to hire sufficient Supervisor of Shipbuilding officers in 2009.[17]
In October of 2010, the Department of Defense released a report outlining numerous engineering flaws in the San Antonio. A top aide in the Department of Defense was quoted as saying that Northrop Grumman's ships are "not effective, suitable and not survivable in combat". The report also blamed Raytheon Co., a subcontractor providing fiber optics, electrical and anti-missile systems for the San Antonio, for "persistent engineering deficiencies."[18]
During an anti-piracy mission in February 2009, one of the ship's crew, Petty Officer 1st Class Theophilus K. Ansong, 34, of Bristol, Virginia, was killed in a small boat accident in the Gulf of Aden. The ship's captain, Commander Eric C. Cash, was reprimanded over the incident at an admiral's mast by Admiral J.C. Harvey Jr., the commander of Fleet Forces Command.[19][20] Another officer, Lieutenant Commander Sean Kearns, the ship's executive officer refused a mast over the same incident and was court-martialed in October and November 2010. During the trial, his defense team presented evidence of the ship's numerous deficiencies and lack of written procedures as contributing to the accident.[21][22] Kearns was acquitted of the charges on 5 November 2010.[23] Kearns stated that the ship's officers had been pressured by the Navy to declare the ship ready to deploy even though they knew that it still had significant, unresolved problems.[24][25]
In April 2011- after nearly two years of constant repair work at various shipyards in Norfolk, VA- the Navy started an investigation [26] into the constant mechanical and engineering issues with San Antonio. The Executive Director of the Regional Maintenance Activity (RMC), Thomas J. Murphy, managing the work was relieved and transferred, as were the senior Waterfront Operations personnel. The Navy said that two contractors, Earl Industries, the prime contractor, and Fairbanks Morse, the engine manufacturer, were unwilling or unable to provide complete documentation into what was fixed on the ship and how.[27] As a result the Navy suspended Norfolk Ship Support Activity's oversight authority.[28] On 6 May 2011, the Navy canceled its maintenance contract with Earl Industries, citing, "improper work performed and concern regarding Earl Industries' quality assurance program and the company's ability to control the quality and documentation of work it performs."[29]
On 26 May 2011, after 10 days of sea trials, the ship's skipper, Commander Thomas Kait, declared the ship's power plants fit for duty.[30][31] The ship completed the trials on 15 June 2011 and was scheduled for a short training deployment from July to August 2011.[32] In July 2011 the U.S.S. San Antonio's Diesel Engine's intercoolers were found to be mechanically deficient after the ship failed to gain full power causing the ship to return to be repaired. [33] The repairs also found deficiencies in work performed by Earl Industries. The repairs were completed on 3 August 2011.[34]
As of August 2011, the Navy now says that all problems with the ship's engines have been corrected including "foreign material exclusion plugs left in the drain piping system, use of incorrect material and improper installation and sealing of gaskets".[35]
This article contains information from the Naval Vessel Registry and various other U.S. Navy Web sites.
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