US Navy Iwo Jima Class
Developed from a WWII escort carrier design, were the world 's first units designed and built to operate exclusively with helicopters.
The air group ( actual mix depends upon mission) could carry 25 - 30 helicopters (
CH-46,
CH-53,
UH-1N and AH-1 )
for the 1800 marines that can go on board, and / or some AV-8 Harriers ( vertical take-off aircraft ).
The USS Guam (LPH9), the last of the Iwo Jima assault ships Class in service, was decommissioned
August 25,1998 although her sister ship LPH 12 Inchon was converted to a mine countermeasures support ship
as MCS 12 in 1996 and remains in service with the Naval Reserve until decommissioned on Jun 20, 2002.
The lead ship, USS IwoJima (LPH2), on April 17, 1970, was the flagship of the Task Force that wait for the Apollo 13 spaceship 's astronauts after their memorable "successful failure" mission
Notice the size of the Sikorsky CH-53
Builder: Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
Units : Iwo Jima (LPH2), Okinawa (LPH3), Guadalcanal (LPH7), Guam (LPH9),
Tripoli (LPH10), New Orleans (LPH11), Inchon (LPH12)
Enter Service : LPH2 deployed: Aug 26, 1961, the last one (LPH12) : 1970
Retired : LPH9 Aug 25, 1998
Power Plant: Two boilers, one geared steam turbines, one shaft, 22,000 total shaft horsepower
Displacement : 18.300 tons
Dimensions : 183 m x 25 m
Flight Deck Width : 31 m
Max. Speed : 23 knots
Crew : 700 + 1800 marines
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Bell XV-15
tiltrotor on sea trials
on board LPH 10 USS Tripoli
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