The US Navy’s tenth Spearhead-class Expeditionary Fast Transport ship, Burlington (EPF 10), has successfully its completed acceptance trials.
Burlington underwent a two-day underway evaluation in the Gulf of Mexico as part of the trial programme, which included both dockside and underway demonstrations.
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The vessel returned to the Austal USA shipyard after successfully demonstrating the operational readiness of its equipment and systems to the navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey.
EPF 10 has been designed as a versatile, non-combatant vessel and is now set to commence preparations for delivery to the navy later this year.
Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships Strategic and Theater Sealift programme manager Captain Scot Searles said: “Acceptance trials are a major step towards delivering Burlington to the navy.
“The ship performed very well this week, which is a great reflection of the commitment of our industry and government team to delivering quality ships.”
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By GlobalDataEPFs are capable of operating in shallow-draft ports and waterways.
They are primarily deployed to carry out activities such as manoeuvre and sustainment, as well as relief operations in small or damaged ports, and flexible logistics support missions.
EPFs can also interface with roll-on / roll-off (RoRo) discharge facilities and on / off-loading vehicles, including a fully combat-loaded Abrams main battle tank.
In addition, each EPF vessel is equipped with a flight deck to assist in both day and night aircraft launch and recovery operations.
Burlington can accommodate 312 embarked forces and features fixed berthing for 104.
A further two EPF vessels, known as Puerto Rico (EPF 11) and Newport (EPF 12), are currently under construction at Austal for deployment with the navy.
