Austal USA christens Navy’s new aluminium hulled ship

<p>Austal USA, the American branch of Australian shipbuilding company and defence contractor Austal, proclaimed that the company has christened its new USS Tulsa (LCS 16), the sixteenth aluminium Independence-class trimaran littoral combat ship (LCS).<br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/US-Navy-to-christen-littoral-combat-ship-USS-Tulsa.jpg" alt="News" width="517" height="226" /></p> <p>An aluminium trimaran hull combat ship is a 419 foot and worth $3.5 billion. The vessel constructed from aluminium makes it much lighter in weight and more agile.<br /><br />Craig Perciavalle, Austal USA President, said, &ldquo;We are proud to provide an awesome combat ship to our nation&rsquo;s incredible sailors. One that will honor the great city of Tulsa as she defends our nation around the globe.&rdquo;<br /><br />The ships run at a speed of 40 knots, a 28,000 square foot&nbsp; mission bay, and has sufficient space on its flight deck to hold two Sikorsky MH-60R/S Seahawk helicopters.<br /><br />{googleAdsense}<br /><br />Austal USA has already delivered five ships and six other ships are under construction. The new USS Tulsa (LCS 16) is expected to be launched in mid-March and delivered in 2018.<br /><br />The U.S Navy has also awarded&nbsp; multi-ship contract worth $1.9 billion to Austal USA to construct 12 Expeditionary Fast Transport ships (EPF).</p>