LPD 17 readies for Oct. '04 sea trials: amphibious assault ship design stresses quality of life for sailors, Marines.

• Author: Kennedy, Harold

Taking shape at a shipyard on the Mississippi River near New Orleans is the first of a new class of U.S. amphibious assault ships.

The USS San Antonio (LPD 17)--christened in July at Northrop Grumman Ship Systems' Avondale Operations--will include improved war-fighting technologies, such as an advanced command and control suite, increased life capacity and enhanced ship survivability features.

For the vessel's crew of 360 sailors and 720 embarked Marines, however, the most important improvements, on a day-to-day basis at least, may be the creature comforts built into the ship.

In designing the San Antonio, "we emphasized quality of life all across the board," Art Divens, executive director for amphibious and auxiliary ships at the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C., told National Defense.

The Navy and Marine Corps have been conducting amphibious operations since 1776, when they raided the port of Nassau in the Bahama Islands, which were then part of the British Empire.

Amphibious assault ships--designed specifically to send combat troops and heavy fighting equipment ashore under enemy fire--were intended for moving forces quickly across oceans and onto hostile beaches, not for the six-month cruises conducted by today's amphibious readiness groups. As a result, shipboard living conditions always have been austere, particularly for the Marines, officials said.

"On the amphibious ship that I served on when I was a midshipman, the Marine Corps berthing was four, five and six racks high," said Rear Adm. Charles Hamilton, NavSea's program executive officer for ships. "We stacked them like cord wood."

Conditions on today's ships haven't changed much, said retired Marine Maj. Gen. William Whitlow, former director of expeditionary warfare for the chief of naval operations. Each Marine has about 18 inches of space, he said. "That's enough to slip into bed and turn over, but not enough to sit up and comfortably read a book."

In summertime, the heat becomes a serious problem, particularly in the Persian Gulf, where temperatures can rise above 125 degrees Fahrenheit, said Whitlow. "We had to treat a lot of Marines for rashes. The heat is absolutely brutal.

The San Antonio is designed to overcome these and other quality-of-life issues, Divens said. For the first time, he said, berthing spaces will be identical for embarked troops and ship's crew. The only difference is that Marine spaces will have lockers for rifles and packs, and adjacent armories for storage of heavier weapons. In older ships, packs and weapons are stored in remote storerooms and armories.

Berthing compartments also will have lounges nearby. Personnel will have room to sit up in their bunks to read or write on portable surfaces. Each berth will have 40...