Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship
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_aft.jpg) USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) |
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | Puget Sound Naval Shipyard Philadelphia Naval Shipyard Ingalls Shipbuilding |
| Operators: |  United States Navy |
| Preceded by: | Essex-class aircraft carrier - Amphibious Assault Ship conversions |
| Succeeded by: | Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship |
| In commission: | 1961-2002 |
| Completed: | 7 |
| Active: | 0 |
| Laid up: | 1 |
| Retired: | 7 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Amphibious Assault Ship (LPH) |
| Displacement: | 18,474 tons (full) 11,000 tons (light) |
| Length: | 592 ft (180 m) |
| Beam: | 84 ft (26 m) |
| Draft: | 27 ft (8.2 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × 600 psi (4.1 MPa) boilers, one geared steam turbine, one shaft, 22,000 shaft horsepower (16 MW) |
| Speed: | 22 knots (41 km/h) |
| Troops: | 2,157 |
| Complement: | 667 |
| Armament: | Initially: 4 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber AA guns Later: 2 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber AA guns, 8 cell Sea Sparrow BPDMS launchers, 2 × Phalanx CIWS |
| Aviation facilities: | 25 helicopters or AV-8 Harriers Flight deck width: 105 ft (32 m) |
The Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ships of the United States Navy were the first amphibious assault ships designed and built as dedicated helicopter carriers, capable of operating up to 20 helicopters to carry up to 1,800 marines ashore. They were named for battles featuring the United States Marine Corps, starting with the Battle of Iwo Jima. The first ship of the class was commissioned in 1961, and the last was decommissioned in 2002. Because these ships bore the hull classification of LPH they have often been referred to as "Landing Platform, Helicopter".
Ships of the class:
Popular culture
One of the Iwo Jima class ships served as the fieldsite in Edwin Hutchins's classic cognitive science study Cognition in the Wild.[1] Although Hutchins does not mention the ship class by name, on p.7 he characterizes it as a 603-foot-long (184 m) amphibious helicopter carrier.
References
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