USS Mississippi submarine leaves port as LHA 6 assault ship launched

Two Navy vessels -- one in service and another under construction with a combined value of about $4 billion -- crossed paths at the Port of Pascagoula and achieved milestones on Monday.

The newly commissioned USS Mississippi, which has been in Pascagoula since May 25, departed Monday morning en route for testing in Port Canaveral, Fla.

Also Monday, amphibious assault ship LHA 6 was launched at Ingalls Shipbuilding, marking its move into the water from the land work site.

The Mississippi, built by General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Conn., was put into official duty during a Saturday commissioning ceremony that attracted a crowd of about 7,000.

The submarine pulled out of Pascagoula around 9 a.m. Monday.

The $2 billion, nuclear-powered submarine will spend three weeks testing its weapons systems in Florida and will eventually return to Groton until a homeport is selected.

The 377-foot-long, 7,800-ton submarine is the ninth in its class and is capable of traditional submarine roles, such as anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, but it can also carry out irregular warfare and reconnaissance, operate in shallow waters and bring out special forces.

LHA 6, a first-in-class ship, is under construction at the Ingalls Shipbuilding and was launched Monday afternoon.

The 844-foot-long and 106-foot-wide vessel is slated for completion next year, company leaders have said.

The vessel, named America, represents the Navy's next-generation big-deck amphibious ship, and the class will replace the Tarawa (LHA 1) class of vessels, which is nearing the end of its service life.

The new vessels will accommodate 1,059 crew and 1,687 troops and be optimized for aviation.

It will be capable of carrying Marine helicopters, MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft and F-35B joint strike fighter aircraft.

These America-class vessels also have increased aviation capacity to include an enlarged hangar deck, realignment and expansion of the aviation maintenance facilities, a significant increase in available stowage for parts and support equipment and increased aviation fuel capacity.

LHA 6 will use the same gas turbine propulsion plant, zonal electrical distribution and electric auxiliary systems as USS Makin Island (LHD 8), replacing the maintenance-intensive steam turbines of earlier ships. The Navy has said the propulsion system was designed for fuel efficiency.

Ingalls announced last week that it received a $2.38 billion contract to build LHA 7, the second vessel in the class, which will be called Tripoli.