Artist conception of USS America (LHA-6) |
|
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS America |
| Namesake: | America |
| Awarded: | 1 June 2007[1] |
| Builder: | Northrop Grumman Ship Systems[1] |
| Laid down: | 17 July 2009 (Ceremony)[2] |
| Sponsored by: | Lynne Pace[2] |
| Commissioned: | 2012 (estimated)[3][4] |
| Status: | Under construction |
| Notes: | Program cost, $6.8 billion[5] Unit cost, $3.4 billion (FY 2011)[5] |
| Badge: | |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | America-class amphibious assault ship[2] |
| Displacement: | Approx. 45,000 long tons (45,700 metric tons) full load |
| Length: | 844 feet (257.3 meters) |
| Beam: | 106 feet (32.3 meters) |
| Propulsion: | Two marine gas turbines, two shafts, 70,000 total brake horsepower, two 5,000 horsepower auxiliary propulsion motors. |
| Speed: | 20+ knots (37+ km/h) |
| Complement: | 65 officers, 994 enlisted 1,687 Marines (plus 184 surge) |
| Armament: | 2× Rolling Airframe Missile launchers 2× Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile launchers 2× 20 mm Phalanx CIWS mounts 7× twin .50 BMG machine guns |
| Aircraft carried: | up to 36 fighters and helicopters[6] |
USS America (LHA-6) will be the first of the America-class amphibious assault ships for the U.S. Navy, and she will be the fourth American warship to bear this name.[4] The America-class will replace the last of the Tarawa-class amphibious assault ships. Based upon the USS Makin Island (LHD-8) design, America will be a gas-turbine powered warship capable of carrying elements of a Marine Expeditionary Unit with the capacity for carrying many Marine helicopters, V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, and F-35B V/STOL F-35 Lightning IIs. This warship is due to be delivered to the Navy in 2012. At a displacement of 45,000 tons, and carrying a complement of F-35 Lightning IIs, it will be able to serve in the role of a small aircraft carrier, as demonstrated by Landing Helicopter Dock operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom.[2]
The U.S. Navy awarded Northrop Grumman Corporation's Ingalls Shipyard Division a $2.4 billion fixed-price incentive contract for the detailed design and construction of the new amphibious assault ship, USS America (LHA-6). Work will be performed primarily at the company's shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, and her delivery to the Navy is scheduled for 2012.[4]
America will replace one of the aging Tarawa-class warships of amphibious assault ships. Like current LHAs and LHDs, an America-class ship will be able to operate as a flagship for an expeditionary strike group or amphibious ready group. Many warships of this type may also play a key role in the Maritime Pre-Positioning Force (Future).[2]
America's design modifications (as compared with the Wasp class) optimize aviation operations and support activities. Removal of the well deck for landing craft provides for an extended hangar deck with two significantly-wider high bay areas, each fitted with an overhead crane for aircraft maintenance. Other enhancements include a reconfigurable command and control complex, an on-board hospital, additional aviation fuel capacity, and numerous aviation support spaces.[4] These changes were required in order to operate the F-35B and MV-22 which are considerably larger than the aircraft they replace.[7]
Current Under Secretary of the Navy Robert O. Work had previously questioned the utility of the well deck-less America, given the failure of the Landing Platform Helicopter concept when tested off Lebanon in the late 1970s, however America will have over twice the mass of the old USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2).[7]
Christopher P. Cavas writes that with the cancellation of the EFV and the delay and possible cancellation of the F-35B the Navy may have to reconsider building any more ships in this class.[8]
|
||||||||