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Austal christened USNS Trenton(JHSV 5) on January 10, 2015 at its state-of-the-art shipyard in Mobile, Alabama. USNS Trenton is the fifth of ten Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV) that Austal has under contract with the U.S. Navy as part of an overall 10-ship block-buy contract worth over $1.6 billion.
The 338-foot catamaran vessel was named Trenton by Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, after the capital of the state of New Jersey and the site of George Washington’s first military victory during the American Revolutionary War. According to Secretary Mabus, “Trenton displays American values of community, perseverance and resourcefulness at their very best. I chose to name the Joint High Speed Vessel after Trenton to honor those values and the men and women of the city as well as the state of New Jersey."
Austal USA President Craig Perciavalle praised the ship, saying, “Trenton is a true testament to the successful partnership that has developed between Austal USA, the Military Sealift Command, and the Navy. We’re very happy with how well this program has matured as we prepare our 5th JHSV for trials and delivery in the coming months.”
Trenton will soon join the four other JHSVs which have been delivered over the last two years including USNS Spearhead (JHSV 1) which recently left on her second deployment since she was delivered in 2012. According to Mr. Perciavalle, “Trenton and her sister ships are innovative ships with incredible amounts of speed, volume and flexibility for their size; capabilities the Navy will be able to leverage for decades to come.”
“We’re so thankful for the support the JHSV program has received, as evidenced by the addition of JHSV 11 in the recently passed appropriations bill, and we’re excited about the program’s future.”
Three JHSVs and six Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) are currently under construction in Austal’s Mobile, Alabama shipyard. Austal will launch one ship and send JHSV 5, out on Builder’s Sea Trials in the Gulf before the end of January.
For the LCS and JHSV programs, Austal, as prime contractor, is teamed with General Dynamics Mission Systems, a business unit of General Dynamics. For the JHSV program, General Dynamics is responsible for the design, integration and testing of the navigation and communication systems, C4I and aviation systems.
