USS America, the fourth American warship to be named for the United States of America,
will be the first of the America-class amphibious assault ships for the U.S. Navy. As of 2014
she will be delivered in spring of 2014, replacing USS Peleliu (LHA-5) of the Tarawa class.
Her mission is to act as the flagship of an expeditionary strike group or amphibious ready
group, carrying part of a Marine expeditionary unit into battle and putting them ashore with
helicopters and V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, supported by F-35B Lightning II aircraft and
helicopter gunships. The ship's design is based on USS Makin Island (LHD-8),
but to allow more room for aviation facilities she does not have a well deck, and has smaller
medical spaces. With a displacement of 45,000 tons, she is as large as the aircraft carriers of
many other nations, and can fulfill similar missions when configured with 20 F-35B strike
fighters.
Design
The design is based on the USS Makin Island, itself an improved version of the Wasp-class
amphibious assault ship. Approximately 45% of the Flight 0 design is based on LHD-8,
with the well deck removed to allow more room for aircraft and aviation fuel. The removal
of the well deck for landing craft allows for an extended hangar deck with two significantly
wider high bay areas, each fitted with an overhead crane for aircraft maintenance.
These changes were required in order to operate the F-35B and MV-22, which are considerably
larger than the aircraft they replace. The typical aircraft complement is expected to
be 12 MV-22B transports, six STOVL F-35B attack aircraft, four CH-53K heavy transport helicopters,
seven AH-1Z/UH-1Y attack helicopters and two Navy MH-60S for air-sea rescue. The exact
makeup of the ship's aircraft complement will vary according to its mission. It can carry
20 F-35B and 2 MH-60S to serve as a small aircraft carrier as demonstrated by LHD operations
in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Other enhancements include a reconfigurable
command and control complex, an on-board hospital, additional aviation fuel capacity, and numerous
aviation support spaces. The America will be modified in a similar
way to the modifications made on the USS Wasp to make it better withstand the great amounts
of heat generated by the F-35B's engine exhaust when taking off or landing vertically. Intercostal
structural members will be added underneath flight deck landing spots seven and nine to
more closely perform timed cyclic flight operations with overstressing it. Other changes may involve
re-adjusting some ship antennas to allow for a clear flight path.
History 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 LHA-6, primarily at the company's shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
The production decision was made in January 2006 and construction of LHA-6 began in December
2008. Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter announced in June 2008 that the ship would be named
America. The keel-laying ceremony was held on 17 July 2009 with delivery originally
planned for August 2012. The ship was launched on 4 June 2012, and christened on 20 October.
As of 2014, America is scheduled for delivery in the spring of 2014, with Naval Base San
Diego as her home port. She took to the sea for the first time on 5 November 2013, for
five days of builder's sea trials in the Gulf of Mexico, and completed acceptance sea trials
in February 2014.
America departed in commission without ceremony from Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi,
on 11 July 2014 in transit to its homeport of San Diego, California. She is scheduled
to be formally commissioned during Fleet Week in San Francisco, California, on 11 October
2014. The ship earned commission status after the crew successfully completed the light-off
assessment, anti-terrorism force protection certification and crew certification. America
is scheduled to transit U.S. Southern Command's area of responsibility during the transit,
referred to as "America Visits the Americas". The ship will visit Naval Station Guantanamo
Bay, Colombia, Brazil, Chile and Peru. America arrived at Rio de Janeiro on 5 August,
and the local press was invited to a guided visit that happened the next day. She arrived
at her home port of San Diego, California on 15 September 2014. During transitions around
South America, the America's mission is to connect with regional allies, conducting joint
exercises with Colombia, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Chile, and Peru involving
security and communications operations, as well as medical asset coordination and mission
planning activities. The ship is carrying three SH-60 Seahawk helicopters of HSC-21
and four MV-22 Ospreys of VMX-22, which are flying into countries and transporting distinguished
visitors to the ship. When the America goes on its first operational deployment, it is
planned to embark the F-35B JSF. USS America was commissioned on 11 October
2014 in San Francisco as part of the activities of San Francisco Fleet Week 2014. The Secretary
of the Navy Ray Mabus was the featured speaker. See also
USS America (CV-66) — Kitty Hawk-class supercarrier decommissioned in 1996
References
External links Official page
New Class of USMC Aircraft Carriers [1]
Priolo, Gary P.. "USS America". Amphibious Assault Ship Index. NavSource Naval History.
Retrieved 4 December 2012.