Wasp class amphibious assault ship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wasp-class amphibious assault ship class Amphibious assault ship
Port bow view of USS Wasp (LHD-1)
Class Overview
Type:	Amphibious assault ship
Name:	Wasp-class amphibious assault ship
Preceded by:	Tarawa -class amphibious assault ships
Succeeded by:	LHA(R) development program
General characteristics
Displacement:	Approx. 40,500 tons (41,150 metric tons) full load
Length:	844 ft (253.2 m)
Beam:	106 ft (31.8 m)
Propulsion:	Two boilers, two geared steam turbines, two shafts, 70,000 shaft horsepower (52 MW); (2 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, two geared turbines, two shafts in Makin Island)
Speed:	20 knots (23 mph, 37 km/h)
Complement:	104 officers, 1,004 enlisted 1,894 Marine Detachment
Armament:	Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) launchers; two NATO Sea Sparrow launchers; three 20 mm Phalanx CIWS mounts (two on LHD 5-7); four .50 cal. machine guns; four 25 mm Mk 38 autocannon (LHD 5-7 have three 25 mm Mk 38 autocannon).
Aircraft:	Actual mix depends upon mission[1] 6 AV-8B Harrier attack aircraft 4 AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopter 12 CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters 9 CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters 4UH-1N Huey helicopters OR Assault 42 CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters OR Sea Control 20 AV-8B Harrier attack aircraft 6 ASW helicopters
Ships of the class
USS Wasp (LHD 1) USS Essex (LHD 2) USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) USS Boxer (LHD 4) USS Bataan (LHD 5) USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) PCU Makin Island (LHD 8)

The Wasp class amphibious assault ships of the United States Navy are designed to land forces on hostile shores, and they are the largest vessels of this type in service anywhere in the world. To the untrained eye they may resemble an aircraft carrier. However, despite the fact that they normally carry a small number of AV-8B Harrier II aircraft, and have a secondary role supporting this type in larger numbers, their primary role is not operating fixed wing aircraft. They have a large air wing of helicopters which are dedicated to ferrying troops and equipment ashore from the ships. They also possess a well deck for launching smaller landing craft, up to two Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCACs; hovercraft) or Landing Craft Utility (LCUs). The Wasp class vessels are derived from the earlier Tarawa class. The easiest way to tell the two apart is to look at the bows; the Tarawa-class ships have a "notched" flight deck and forward sponsons, which originally carried 5" guns, the Wasp class has a squared-off forward flight deck and no forward sponsons.