USS Bougainville (LHA-8)
USS Bougainville (LHA-8) is an America-class amphibious assault ship currently under construction for the United States Navy.[7] It will be the second Navy ship to be named Bougainville.[8][1] Bougainville is being built by Huntington Ingalls Industries at its shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi and is expected to be delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2024.[1]
![]() Graphical depiction of USS Bougainville (LHA-8) | |
History | |
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Name: | Bougainville |
Namesake: | Bougainville Campaign[1] |
Awarded: | 30 June 2016[2] |
Builder: | Huntington Ingalls Industries[2] |
Laid down: | 14 March 2019[4] |
Sponsored by: | Ellyn Dunford |
Status: | Under construction |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | America-class amphibious assault ship |
Displacement: | 44,971 long tons (45,693 t) |
Length: | 844 ft (257 m) |
Beam: | 106 ft (32 m) |
Draft: | 26 ft (7.9 m) (7.9 meters) |
Propulsion: | Two marine gas turbines, two shafts, 70,000 bhp (52,000 kW), two 5,000 hp (3,700 kW) auxiliary propulsion motors. |
Speed: | over 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) |
Boats & landing craft carried: | |
Complement: |
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Sensors and processing systems: | |
Electronic warfare & decoys: |
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Aircraft carried: |
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Bougainville officially started fabrication on 16 October 2018[9].
Design
The design of Bougainville is based on USS Makin Island, itself an improved version of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship. While Makin Island has a well deck, the earlier two Flight 0 America-class ships USS America and USS Tripoli were designed and built without a well deck to make space for aircraft and aviation fuel.[10] Bougainville will be the first Flight 1 America-class ship,[1] and as such will include a well deck.[2] The design of the Flight 1 America-class ships, including that of the Bougainville, adopts a compromise, incorporating a slightly smaller aircraft hangar as well as smaller medical and other spaces to fit a small well deck for surface connector operations.[2][11] The island structure will also be modified to free up more room on the flight deck to accommodate maintenance of V-22s, compensating for some of the lost aircraft hangar space.[11]
Bougainville will be the first in her class built with a redesigned and stronger main deck; the earlier America-class vessels America and Tripoli each required retrofitting in order to handle the strain of daily Marine F-35B Lightning II STOVL operations.[12] In addition, Bougainville will incorporate the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR) volume air search radar in lieu of the AN/SPS-48G air search radar in America and Tripoli.[5] The Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers starting with John F. Kennedy and the planned LX(R)-class amphibious warfare ships will also have this radar.[13]
References
- Eckstein, Megan (9 November 2016). "Mabus Names LHA-8 After Bougainville Island Campaign in World War II". USNI News. U.S. Naval Institute. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
- Eckstein, Megan (30 June 2016). "Ingalls Wins LHA-8 Contract, NASSCO To Build 6 Fleet Oilers". USNI News. U.S. Naval Institute. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
- "Ingalls Shipbuilding Authenticates Keel of America-class Amphibious Warship Bougainville (LHA 8)" (Press release). Huntington Ingalls Industries. 13 March 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
- LaGrone, Sam (22 August 2016). "Raytheon Awarded $92M Navy Contract for Future Carrier, Big Deck AESA Radars". USNI News. U.S. Naval Institute. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
- http://www.dote.osd.mil/pub/reports/FY2008/pdf/navy/2008lha6.pdf
- "Bougainville (LHA 8)". Naval Vessel Register. United States Navy. 10 November 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
- "SECNAV names next Amphibious Assault Destroyer" (Press release). U.S. Department of Defense. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
- https://newsroom.huntingtoningalls.com/releases/photo-release-huntington-ingalls-industries-starts-fabrication-of-amphibious-assault-ship-bougainville-lha-8
- GAO-09-326SP 'Defense Acquisitions: Assessments of Selected Weapon Programs', U.S. Government Accountability Office, 30 March 2009
- Freedberg, Sydney J. Jr. (3 October 2012). "Navy's Newest, LHA-6, A Dead End For Amphibious Ships?". Retrieved 9 November 2016.
- LaGrone, Sam (22 March 2016). "USS America Back to Sea After Completing 10-Months of Deck Strengthening for F-35s". USNI News. U.S. Naval Institute. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
- "Navy C4ISR and Unmanned Systems". Sea Power 2016 Almanac. Navy League of the U.S. January 2016. p. 91.
- This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.