F-M Supplying Engines For New U.S. Navy Vessel

Fairbanks Morse will build the four main propulsion diesel engines for the LPD 30, the U.S. Navy’s first LPD Flight 2 class ship.

The newly designed ship will be based on the San Antonio-class hull, but the LPD Flight 2 is fitted with a fully capable flight deck and hangar, a well deck, and the vehicle and cargo capacities to support and sustain more than 500 combat-equipped Marines for up to 30 days. Each engine will feature common rail (CR) fuel injection technology.

The engines are scheduled to be delivered in the second and third quarters of 2020 to Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Fairbanks Morse will then support the installation, testing, and sea trials for the vessel. The four sequentially turbocharged 16-cylinder FM Colt-Pielstick PC 2.5 diesel engines with CR fuel injection will deliver over 31 MW of propulsion power and are among the largest medium speed diesel engines manufactured in the United States. The engine has a bore and stroke of 400 X 460 mm.

The common rail system technology uses a common high-pressure fuel header, high-pressure pumps, electronically controlled fuel delivery, electronic governing system, and a new control system designed to deliver a precise amount of fuel throughout all engine operations. Fairbanks Morse engineers in Beloit, Wisconsin, USA, worked with the MAN Energy Solutions teams in Augsburg, Germany, and St. Nazaire, France, along with the U.S. Navy to apply MAN’s commercial technology from the 32/44CR engine onto the FM | Colt-Pielstick PC 2.5V STC engine.

Each engine will be built at the Fairbanks Morse facility in Beloit. The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard have turned to Fairbanks Morse for over 70 years to provide quality diesel engines for marine propulsion and ship service systems. Today, Fairbanks Morse engines are installed on approximately 80% of U.S. Navy ships that have a medium speed power application.