Blue Ridge-class Command Ship

The amphibious command ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) transits the Pacific Ocean during a 26 ship formation photo exercise, which was the culmination of Annual Exercise (ANNUALEX 21G), the largest annual bilateral exercise with the USN and the JMSDF on November 17^th, 2009.

The Blue Ridge-class amphibious command ships (LCC) of the United States Navy are a pair of large, special-purpose ship, originally designed to command large amphibious invasions. However, as amphibious invasions have become unlikely, they are now used as general command ships, and serve as floating headquarters for the various combatant commands. Currently, they are assigned to the 6^th and 7^th fleets as flagships.

Specifications

• Type: Amphibious Command Ship
• Service Period: 1970-Present
• Characteristics:
  • Length: 636 feet 6 inches (194.01 meters)
  • Beam: 108 feet (32.92 meters)
  • Draft: 26 feet 9 inches (8.15 meters)
  • Displacement: 18,874 tons (Full Load)
• Crew: 842-1,441 (52-268 officers and 790-1,173 enlisted)
• Propulsion: 2 x Foster-Wheeler boilers, 1 x General Electric geared steam turbine, 1 x shaft, 22,000 shp
• Range: 13,000 nautical miles (24,076 kilometers) at 16 knots (29.63 km/h)
• Speed: 23 knots (42.6 km/h)
• Sensor Suite:
  • AN/SPS-48G 3D Air Search Radar
  • AN/SPS-40E 2D Air Search Radar - replaced by AN/SPS-49A(V)1 2D Air Search Radar
  • AN/SPS-67(V)1 Surface Search Radar
  • AN/SPS-64(V)9 Navigation Radar
• Countermeasures:
  • AN/SLQ-32(V)3 Electronic Warfare Suite
  • AN/SLQ-25C Nixie torpedo decoy
  • Mk.36 SBROC
• Armament:
  • 2 x Mk.29 NSSM Launchers (fires RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missiles)
  • 2 x 20mm Mk.15 Phalanx CIWS
  • 2 x 25mm Mk.38 Bushmaster auto-cannons
  • 8 x 12.7mm M2 Browning machine guns
• Aircraft Carried: 2 x helicopters
• Aviation Facilities:

Unit Run

• USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)
• USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20)