The following is text of a news release from Huntington Ingalls Industries:
(PASCAGOULA, Miss.) — Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls Shipbuilding division delivered amphibious assault ship Tripoli (LHA 7) to the U.S. Navy on Friday. Tripoli will be commissioned later this year before sailing to its home port of San Diego, Calif.
Ingalls is currently the sole builder of large-deck amphibious ships for the Navy. America-class ships are designed to enhance Marine Corps aviation, capable of supporting the tilt-rotor MV-22 and F-35B joint strike fighter. When Tripoli enters the fleet, it will be the flagship of an Amphibious Ready Group, strategically positioning Marine Expeditionary Units ashore across a full spectrum of missions, including humanitarian, disaster relief, maritime security, antipiracy and other operations while providing air support for ground forces.
“The LHA team is proud to witness the delivery of the 15th large-deck amphibious ship built at Ingalls,” said Bryan Williams, LHA 7 program manager. “The completion of Tripoli is a great complement to our longstanding legacy of building state-of-the-art warships.”
Tripoli is the third ship to bear the name that commemorates the capture of Derna in 1805 by a small force of Marines and nearly 370 soldiers from 11 other nations. The battle, memorialized in the Marines’ Hymn with the line, “to the shores of Tripoli,” brought about a successful conclusion to the combined operations of the First Barbary War.
