Newest amphib set for commissioning Saturday

[unhappycamper]

Green Bay's big day
4th San Antonio-class ship to join fleet


Newest amphib set for commissioning Saturday
By Gidget Fuentes - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 22, 2009 15:47:35 EST

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Escorted by tugboats and heavy security, the Navy’s newest amphibious transport dock, the Green Bay, glided into a berth here Tuesday afternoon, a few days ahead of its official commissioning into the Navy’s fleet.

The 684-foot, 25,000-ton ship, with its distinctive silhouette framed by a pair of covered masts, will be formally commissioned Saturday morning.

The fourth ship in the LPD 17 San Antonio class, Green Bay will be the first one commissioned on the West Coast. The Navy is holding the ceremony at the shuttered naval shipyard in Long Beach’s middle harbor, two hours north of San Diego, where the ship will be homeported.

Green Bay and its precommissioning crew of 365 arrived Dec. 17 in San Diego after traveling through the Panama Canal from builder Northrop-Grumman’s shipyard in Avondale, La., with a refurbished air-cushioned landing craft and 132 crew members’ vehicles in its spacious stowage decks.

“It’s starting to become a real Navy ship,” said Engineman 1st Class (SW/AW) Stefany Hammond, 27.


Rest of article about this $1.8 billion wonder at: http://navytimes.com/news/2009/01/navy_greenbay_012209w/%2e