Austal ships clear major hurdle

Two Austal USA-built ships cleared their last hurdle last week before joining the fleet. The expeditionary fast transport Burlington and the Littoral Combat Ship Charleston both successfully completed acceptance trials, according to press releases from Naval Sea System Command and Austal USA. The Mobile, Ala.-based shipyard is coming to an end of building its 12 EPFs - Burlington is EPF-10; while EPF-11 Puerto Rico and EPF-12 Newport are under construction. There’s a way to go for LCS builds with additional contract awards expected out of the FY 2019 budget, which authorized three LCS, but it’s unclear which of two builders – Marinette, Wis., shipyard – would get those awards. LCS Charleston is the ninth of the Austal-built trimaran hulls to be constructed by Austal. Plans are for it to be delivered to the Navy by the end of 2018. The yard is also on various stages of construction for several other LCS: Cincinnati (LCS 20) is preparing for trials. Final assembly is underway on Kansas City (LCS 22) and Oakland (LCS 24), according to Austal. Modules for the future USS Mobile (LCS 26) are under construction in the manufacturing facility and construction on Savannah (LCS 28) commenced in mid-July.” (Source: Defense News 08/05/18)