{"id":391484,"date":"2025-09-02T08:56:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T08:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/391484\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T08:56:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T08:56:16","slug":"austal-usa-launches-first-of-12-new-lcu-vessels-for-us-navy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/391484\/","title":{"rendered":"Austal USA launches first of 12 new LCU vessels for US Navy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Austal USA has launched the company\u2019s first landing craft utility (LCU) vessel built for the US Navy at its ship manufacturing facility in Mobile, Alabama.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"458\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/austal-usa-768x458.png\" class=\"attachment-medium_large size-medium_large\" alt=\"\" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Credit: Austal USA<\/p>\n<p>The launching ceremony took place on August 22, 2025. LCU 1710 is the first of 12 new LCUs under contract at Austal USA, a part of a $91.5 million deal awarded by the navy in 2023. <\/p>\n<p>LCUs are carried aboard amphibious assault ships to the objective area and used across a range of military operations to deliver vehicles, personnel and cargo from sea-to-shore and back. <\/p>\n<p>These connectors provide a heavy-lift capability and can carry about the same payload capacity as several C-17 aircraft.<\/p>\n<p>The vessels have a roll-on \/ roll-off monohull configuration with hydraulically controlled bow and stern ramps that allow multiple vessels to connect and form a causeway for fast and secure unloading and loading, according to Austal.<\/p>\n<p>They are designed to be transported within and load\/unload from the well decks of amphibious assault ships, carrying loads up to 3.5 meters high, above the vessel\u2019s vehicle deck. With a crew of 13, each vessel can conduct independent open ocean transits or operations at sea with a range of 1,200 nautical miles (at 8kn) and a top speed of 11 knots.<\/p>\n<p>The company has three LCU under construction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am proud of the LCU program team for the hard work they\u2019ve put forth to reach this important milestone,\u201d stated <strong>Michelle Kruger<\/strong>, Austal USA President. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cLCU is an important program that plays a critical role in supporting expeditionary operations for the Navy and Marine Corps. Each milestone achieved shores up our position as a key contributor to the strength and success of the maritime industrial base.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>LCU is one of three shipbuilding programs in serial production at Austal USA\u2019s facility.\u00a0 The company also has three Navy Navajo-class Towing, Salvage and Rescue ships (T-ATS) and two U.S. Coast Guard Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPC) under construction.<\/p>\n<p>\nFollow Naval Today on:\n<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"743\" height=\"422\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/navaltoday-background-.png\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tPut your brand on the radar and boost visibility<\/p>\n<p>From banner ads to sponsored content, we help your solutions<br \/>cut through the noise.<br \/>Trust Naval Today to align the compass and navigate your message!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austal USA has launched the company\u2019s first landing craft utility (LCU) vessel built for the US Navy at&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[49,978,659],"class_list":{"0":"post-391484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-united-states","9":"tag-us","10":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115133873311645089","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}