Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship

The Harpers Ferry class of the United States Navy is a class of dock landing ships completed in the early 1990s. Modified from the Whidbey Island class, the design sacrifices landing craft capacity for more cargo space, making it closer to an amphibious transport dock type, but was not designated as such. Externally, the two classes can be distinguished by the positions of weapons: The Harpers Ferry class has the Phalanx CIWS mounted forward, and the RAM launcher on top of the bridge, while the Whidbey Island has the opposite arrangement.

USS Carter Hall
Class overview
Name	Harpers Ferry class
Builders	Avondale Shipyard
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	Whidbey Island class
Succeeded by	LX(R) class
Cost	$324.2 million [1]
In commission	1995–present
Planned	4
Completed	4
Active	4
General characteristics
Type	Dock landing ship
Displacement	15,939 tons
Length	609 ft 7 in (185.8 m)
Beam	84 ft (26 m)
Draft	19 ft 6 in (5.94 m)
Propulsion	Four Colt Pielstick, 16-cylinder diesels twin turbo, two shafts, 33,000 shp (25,000 kW)
Speed	24.5 kn (45.4 km/h; 28.2 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	2 LCACs or 1 LCU or four LCM-8 or 9 LCM-6[2]
Complement	24 officers, 397 enlisted sailors, Surge + 504 Marines
Armament	2 × 25 mm Mk 38 cannons 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS mounts 2 × RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) launchers 6 × .50 caliber M2HB machine guns

Stern view of USS Harpers Ferry

As of 2009, all ships of the class are scheduled to undergo a midlife upgrade to ensure they remain in service through 2038. The ships will be upgraded each year through 2013, and the last ship will be modernized in 2014. Ships homeported on the East Coast will undergo upgrades at Metro Machine Corp., and ships based on the West Coast will receive upgrades at General Dynamics National Steel and Shipbuilding Company in San Diego.[3]

Major elements of the upgrade package include diesel engine improvements, fuel and maintenance savings systems, engineering control systems, increased air conditioning/chill water capacity, and replacement of air compressors. The ships also replaced steam systems with all-electric functionality that will decrease maintenance.[3]