GC-built ships to forward deploy

SASEBO, Japan – A pair of Navy ships built on the Gulf Coast - amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) and landing platform dock USS New Orleans (LPD 18) - will become part of the U.S. 7th Fleet forward-deployed forces in Japan, according to the commander of Naval Forces Japan said in a media release. The guided-missile destroyer USS Stethem (DDG 63) will shift its homeport to San Diego for its mid-life modernization, and the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) will shift its homeport to Norfolk, Va., to undergo scheduled maintenance. America is capable of supporting the Marine Corps’ F-35B vertical-lift variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, as part of an embarked Marine Corps Air Combat Element. Maintaining a forward-deployed force capability supports the U.S. commitment to the defense of Japan and the security and stability of the Indo-Pacific region. America will provide the Marines with a means of combat operations utilizing the F-35B. New Orleans is capable of ship-to-shore movement by tilt-rotor and helicopter. In addition to combat operations, both ships can conduct humanitarian-assistance operations. (Source: Seapower 04/28/19) The U.S. Navy awarded then-Northrop Grumman Corporation's Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss., to build LHA-6. New Orleans was built by then-Northrop Grumman Ship Systems of New Orleans and commissioned in the ‘Big Easy’ in March 2007.