Northrop Grumman Ship Systems has delivered two new ships to the U.S. Navy this week, including an amphibious transport dock ship built at its New Orleans shipyard.

On Monday, Northrop Grumman signed documents officially transferring the USS Kidd, an Aegis guided missile destroyer, to the Navy. The Kidd was built at the Pascagoula shipyard.

Similar documents were signed Friday giving the dock ship, the USS New Orleans, to the Navy.

“This is a tremendous way to end 2006,” Northrop Grumman Ship Systems president Philip A. Teel said in a statement. “It is a tribute to the dedication displayed by our shipbuilding team — the company’s shipbuilders and the Navy.”

The Kidd is the 24th Aegis guided missile destroyer built by Northrop Grumman. The destroyer suffered hull damage during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. The destroyer recently completed successful combined “super” trials in the Gulf of Mexico and will be commissioned to the Navy next summer.

The New Orleans is the second Northrop Grumman-built ship in the San Antonio class. The 684-foot ship sailed down the Mississippi River past the New Orleans skyline en route to the Gulf of Mexico twice this fall for sea trials. The ship is scheduled to be commissioned in New Orleans this March.

The New Orleans was moored in the Mississippi River during the 2005 hurricane season.

The Kidd was christened in January 2005. It is the third Navy destroyer named for Medal of Honor and Purple Heart recipient Rear Admiral Isaac Kidd Sr., the first flag officer killed aboard the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor and the first in the Navy to meet death in action against any foreign enemy.