Graphical depiction of USS Bougainville (LHA-8)
History
United States
NameBougainville
NamesakeBougainville Campaign[1]
Awarded30 June 2016[2]
BuilderHuntington Ingalls Industries[2][3]
Laid down14 March 2019[4]
Launched6 October 2023[5]
Sponsored byEllyn Dunford
Christened2 December 2023
IdentificationHull number: LHA-8
StatusUnder construction[6]
Badge
General characteristics
Class and typeAmerica-class amphibious assault ship
Displacement44,971 long tons (45,693 t)
Length844 ft (257 m)
Beam106 ft (32 m)
Draft26 ft (7.9 m) (7.9 meters)
PropulsionTwo marine gas turbines, two shafts, 70,000 bhp (52,000 kW), two 5,000 hp (3,700 kW) auxiliary propulsion motors.
SpeedOver 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Boats & landing
craft carried
Complement
  • 65 officers, 994 enlisted
  • 1,687 Marines (plus 184 surge)
Sensors and
processing systems
Electronic warfare
& decoys
Armament
Aircraft carried

USS Bougainville (LHA-8) is an America-class amphibious assault ship currently under construction for the United States Navy.[9] She will be the second Navy ship to be named Bougainville.[10][1]

Design

The design of Bougainville is based on USS Makin Island, which is 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.[11] Bougainville will be the first Flight I America-class ship,[1] and as such will include a well deck.[2] The design of the Flight I America-class ships, including that of 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][12] 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.[12]

Bougainville will be the first of 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 F-35B Lightning II flight operations.[13] In addition, Bougainville will incorporate the AN/SPY-6 Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar (EASR) volume air search radar in lieu of the AN/SPS-48G air search radar in America and Tripoli.[7] 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.[14]

Construction and career

Bougainville is being built by Huntington Ingalls Industries at their shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi[3] and is expected to be delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2024.[1]

Bougainville officially started fabrication on 16 October 2018.[6] The ship was first laid down on 14 March 2019.[15]

On 30 June 2023 a fire in the ship's superstructure was reported, there were six minor injuries, and reportedly minimal damage to the ship. The fire is being investigated by the Navy and Ingalls Shipbuilding.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 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.
  2. 1 2 3 4 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.
  3. 1 2 "Huntington Ingalls to build new America-class amphibious ship LHA 8". NavalToday. 1 July 2016. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  4. ↑ "Ingalls Shipbuilding Authenticates Keel of America-class Amphibious Warship Bougainville (LHA 8)" (Press release). Huntington Ingalls Industries. 13 March 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  5. ↑ "HII's Ingalls Shipbuilding Launches Amphibious Assault Ship Bougainville (LHA 8)". HII. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Huntington Ingalls Industries Starts Fabrication of Amphibious Assault Ship Bougainville (LHA 8)". newsroom.huntingtoningalls.com. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  7. 1 2 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.
  8. ↑ "LHA 6 (formerly LHA(R)) New Amphibious Assault Ship" (PDF). dote.osd.mil. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  9. ↑ "Bougainville (LHA 8)". Naval Vessel Register. United States Navy. 10 November 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  10. ↑ "SECNAV names next Amphibious Assault Destroyer" (Press release). U.S. Department of Defense. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  11. ↑ GAO-09-326SP 'Defense Acquisitions: Assessments of Selected Weapon Programs', U.S. Government Accountability Office, 30 March 2009
  12. 1 2 Freedberg, Sydney J. Jr. (3 October 2012). "Navy's Newest, LHA-6, A Dead End For Amphibious Ships?". Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ "Navy C4ISR and Unmanned Systems". Sea Power 2016 Almanac. Navy League of the U.S. January 2016. p. 91. Archived from the original on 12 January 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  15. ↑ Industries, Huntington Ingalls. "Ingalls Shipbuilding Authenticates Keel of Bougainville (LHA 8)". Huntington Ingalls Newsroom. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
  16. ↑ "Ingalls, Navy Investigating Fire in Superstructure of Future Big Deck USS Bougainville". USNI News. 30 June 2023. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
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