USS Bougainville (LHA-8)
America-class amphibious assault ship
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
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Graphical depiction of USS Bougainville (LHA-8) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Bougainville |
| Namesake | Bougainville Campaign[1] |
| Awarded | 30 June 2016[2] |
| Builder | Huntington Ingalls Industries[2][3] |
| Laid down | 14 March 2019[4] |
| Launched | 30 September 2023[5] |
| Christened | 2 December 2023 |
| Identification | Hull number: LHA-8 |
| Status | Under construction[6] |
| Badge |  |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & 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 & processing systems | |
| Electronic warfare & decoys |
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| Armament |
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| Aircraft carried | |
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 July 2027, delayed from the original timeline of October 2024.[15]
Bougainville officially started fabrication on 16 October 2018.[6] The ship was first laid down on 14 March 2019.[16]
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.[17]
The Bougainville was christened on Saturday, December 2, 2023, by the ship's sponsor Ellyn Dunford, wife of United States Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford.[18][19]
