The first-of-class Joint High Speed Vessel, USNS Spearhead (JHSV 1), has successfully completed formal acceptance trials in the Gulf of Mexico. After a series of comprehensive tests to demonstrate the performance of the ship’s propulsion plant, handling and auxiliary systems, the high-speed catamaran transport ship was permitted to fly a broom from the mast, a Navy tradition representing a ‘clean sweep’ of trials from the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey team.
USNS Spearhead will be followed by Choctaw County (JHSV 2), which was christened on 15 September. Austal’s Mobile, Alabama shipyard has two more JHSVs in build as part of an order for nine 103m JHSVs under a US$1.6 billion contract. The same facility is also building five Independence class Littoral Combat Ships.
