USS Helmand Province

USS Helmand Province (LHA-10) will be the fifth America-class amphibious assault ship of the United States Navy. The ship is named after the Afghan Helmand Province, the site of a US Marine Corps campaign during the War in Afghanistan.

Lead of the class USS America
History
United States
Name	Helmand Province
Namesake	Helmand province campaign
Builder	Huntington Ingalls Industries
Identification	Hull number: LHA-10
General characteristics
Class and 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	4 Landing Craft Air Cushion or 1 Landing Craft Utility
Complement	65 officers, 994 enlisted 1,687 Marines (plus 184 surge)
Sensors and processing systems	AN/SPQ-9B fire control AN/SPY-6(V)2 EASR airsearch radar
Electronic warfare & decoys	AN/SLQ-32B(V)2 2× Mk53 Nulka decoy launchers
Armament	2× Rolling Airframe Missile launchers 2× Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile launchers 2× 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts 7× twin .50 BMG 12.7mm machine guns
Aircraft carried	MV-22B Osprey F-35B Lightning II CH-53K King Stallion UH-1Y Venom AH-1Z Viper MH-60S Knighthawk

Design

Main article: America-class amphibious assault ship

The design of Helmand Province 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.^[1]

She will be the third Flight I America-class ship, and as such will include a well deck. The design of the Flight I America-class ships, including that of Helmand Province, 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] 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.^[2]

History

The then-LHA-10 was authorized by the United States Congress in 2023, providing $US 1.38 billion for her procurement.^[3]

The ship was named by Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro on 2 May 2024, intending to honor the US sailors and marines who fought in the strategic Helmand Province Campaign during the War in Afghanistan.^[4]