HARRISBURG, Pa. — Officials from the United States Navy visited Harrisburg today to update Mayor Wanda Williams on the construction of a new ship bearing the city's name.
The USS Harrisburg is currently under construction at a shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The $2 billion landing platform dock ship is expected to be commissioned in 2024 and put into service in 2025 after its construction is complete.
The ship, which is approximately the size of two football fields, will be home to around 1,000 Sailors and Marines, transporting them to different locations across the world.
It’s expected to sail out of Norfolk, Virginia, which means its travel focus will be the Atlantic Ocean and points eastward, according to U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Tom Anderson.
“These ships will deploy as part of an Amphibious Readiness Group, or ARG,” Anderson said in a meeting with Williams Monday. “They will deploy for six months at a time and they will go where the nation needs them to be. In this time, the crew will form a bond with the city of their ship’s namesake. You will stay in touch with them to see what they are up to. It can be a very special bond between the crew and the city.”
Landing Platform Dock ships, or LPDs, are 684-feet long and can launch or land multiple helicopters and small planes. The USS Harrisburg will be the 30th commissioned in the fleet.
In honor of Anderson's visit, Williams proclaimed Monday to be Harrisburg Navy Day.
When the USS Harrisburg is commissioned in 2024, it will be the second USS Harrisburg in the U.S. Navy’s history.
According to the website History Central, the original USS Harrisburg was built in 1888 in Paris as a three-masted schooner commercial passenger ship.
The U.S. Navy acquired it and commissioned it in 1918, and made four trips to and from Europe, transporting soldiers and supplies during World War I.
After the war, it made six additional trips across the Atlantic before it was decommissioned in 1923.
