The US Navy has christened its 16th and final Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport ship, the USNS Lansing (EPF 16), at Austal’s shipyard in Mobile, Alabama.
The program, now nearing completion, is part of the US Department of Defense’s effort in the early 2000s to field high-speed logistics vessels able to carry company-sized units and their corresponding vehicles.
Lansing is the last of three Spearhead systems with a Flight II configuration, an upgrade allowing a hull to deploy in its standard transport function, a Role 2 floating hospital, or a combination of both capabilities…