New Ship Arrives at San Diego Naval Base Today

SAN DIEGO -- The new amphibious transport dock ship USS John P. Murtha arrives today in San Diego, its first home port.

The Murtha is the 10th amphibious transport dock ship in the San Antonio class, which have a flight deck to accommodate U.S. Marine Corps helicopters and MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, plus a well deck for launching and recovering landing craft and amphibious vehicles.

The ship, commissioned at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia last month, will normally carry around 700 Marines but can boost that number by 100, if necessary.

The 684-foot-long ship is named after a Pennsylvania congressman and Marine veteran who died in 2010. The naming was controversial, as Murtha was a harsh critic of the Iraq War, and because Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus defied a convention of naming ships in the class after cities.

Sea trials were completed successfully this summer in the Gulf of Mexico, after which the Murtha began the voyage to San Diego. Along the way, the sailors conducted equipment checks, system tests, crew certification and countless hours of training.

"As we look forward to arriving home in San Diego and reuniting with family and friends, I could not be more proud of this crew,'' said Capt. Kevin Parker, the commanding officer.

"During our sail around up and down the East Coast and through the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, they have executed every assigned engagement and tasking with professionalism and precision,'' Parker said. "They truly exemplify the `make a difference' attitude that our ship's motto demands, and I have full confidence that this ship and her crew are ready for whatever is asked of us.''

Image courtesy of the US Navy