July 9, 2025 5:02 PM
The next two America-class amphibious assault ships are each facing a one-year delay, USNI News has learned.
The future USS Bougainville (LHA-8) will now deliver to the Navy in August of 2026, according to the service’s Fiscal Year 2026 budget documents. HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding, which builds the ships at its yard in Pascagoula, Miss., was scheduled to deliver the ship this October under last year’s budget plans.
The latest budget documents cite “construction performance indicators and shipyard labor challenges” as the reasons for the delay for LHA-8.
The future USS Fallujah (LHA-9) will now deliver in September of 2030 instead of last year’s September 2029 projection, according to the budget documents, which similarly cite “early construction performance indicators related to shipyard labor challenges” as the reason for the delay.
“The Navy and HII-Ingalls are continuously working to ensure Bougainville and Fallujah will be delivered with all the capabilities our warfighters need as early as possible,” a Navy spokesperson told USNI News in a statement.
Under the current schedule, each big-deck amphibious warship will take about eight years to build. HII officials say the Navy should build the LHAs on four-year centers to maintain a healthy workforce and stable supply chain.
Ingalls built the ships in the Wasp-class roughly on four-year centers, with the exception of USS Makin Island (LHD-8), which was the first big-deck amphibious ship to have a new propulsion plant that replaced boilers with gas turbines. Since Makin Island, the number of construction days – based on data from the Naval Vessel Register – to build amphibious warships has increased in the new America class. The exception is USS America (LHA-6), which Ingalls built faster than Makin Island, but in more time than the remaining ships in the Wasp class.
“We are working with our amphibious assault ship suppliers and the Navy to expedite technology integration and construction performance to mitigate schedule impacts,” Kimberly Aguillard, a spokesperson for Ingalls, told USNI News in a statement. “We are committed to delivering the most complete and combat ready ships as early as possible.”
Ingalls has experienced workforce challenges at its Mississippi yard, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused experienced shipbuilders to retire. The shipyard is also competing with the service industry for talent. Retaining entry-level shipbuilders who do pipe fitting and hull work was trending in a positive direction as of last August, then-president of Ingalls Shipbuilding Kari Wilkinson told USNI News at the time.
USS Tripoli (LHA-7), the last America-class ship that Ingalls delivered to the Navy, also faced delays. Toward the end of its construction, the ship’s delivery was delayed by several months.
The LHA program delays come as the Navy faces ongoing readiness challenges across the amphibious fleet.
A December Government Accountability Office found that amphibious ships had a 46 percent readiness rate – or the percentage of time they were prepared to deploy – despite requirements for 50 percent.
“[P]oor material condition of the ships and delays in their maintenance has negatively affected availability of the amphibious fleet,” reads the report. “Decisions in recent years to divest ships before reaching the end of their expected service lives and prior to completing a waiver process involving submitting a certification to congressional defense committees triggered decisions to forego critical maintenance and worsened the condition of those ships.”
Last year, the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group deployed in a disaggregated fashion because a bearing and the starboard rudder on USS Boxer (LHD-4) failed. Boxer first deployed April 1, 2024, but was back at the pier in San Diego, Calif., just over one week later. After repairs, the ship didn’t leave again for deployment until mid-July of that year.
To get after this problem, the Navy is kicking off a pilot program this year on both the east and west coasts that will lock in the maintenance package for amphibious ships more than one year in advance, USNI News reported in April. The goal is to give contractors more time to order parts ahead of time for maintenance overhauls, which could help drive down maintenance delay days.
In recent months, Adm. Jim Kilby, the acting chief of naval operations, has repeatedly spoken about the need to address the amphibious ship readiness problem.
“I want to maximize the availability of our amphibious ships and I’ve done poorly in that, particularly in [USS Wasp (LHD-1)] and Boxer deployments,” Kilby told the House Armed Services Committee last month. “So I’m committed to getting our amphibious maintenance done on time so the Marines can embark and we can deploy as scheduled for the global force management process.”
The Marine Corps says it needs a 3.0 ARG/MEU presence in order to meet combatant commander requests and perform their missions. Congress has mandated that the Navy maintain a minimum of 31 amphibious warships in its inventory. Kilby told HASC last month that he needs 46 amphibious warships.
The next Amphibious Ready Group to deploy is the Iwo Jima ARG, which is currently performing workups off the East Coast with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit.