Gator Delivered

The NAVY TOOK DELIVERY OF OF THE AMPHIBIOUS TRANSPORT DOCK Mesa Verde Sept. 28, Marine Link maritime news reported, stationing sailors and Marines aboard Oct.1 as the ship sits in the yard in Pascagoula, Miss. The Mesa Verde is the third ship in the troubled LPD 17 class of amphibious ships, but it has so far shown few of the construction problems that plagued its older sister ships, the San Antonio and the New Orleans. The Mesa Verde is scheduled to be commissioned Dec. 15 ij Panama City, Florida. Then sail to its new home port of Norfolk, VA.