Whidbey Island class
 USS Fort McHenry 2002 in the Pacific |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Dock landing ship |
| units | 8 built, 8 in service |
| Namesake | Island Whidbey Iceland |
| period of service |
since 1985 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
fully loaded 15,939 ts |
| length |
185.6 meters |
| width |
25.6 meters |
| Draft |
6.4 meters |
| crew |
22 officers, 391 men, up to 500 Marines |
| drive |
2 propellers, four diesel engines; 33,000 wave horsepower |
| speed |
20+ knots |
| Range |
8000 nautical miles at 20 knots |
| Armament |
2 phalanx, 2 launchers for anti-aircraft missiles |
The Whidbey Island- class is a class of dock landing craft of the United States Navy . The eight units of the class have been built since 1981 and are used for amphibious warfare. They were planned to transport the Landing Craft Air Cushioned (LCAC) type air cushion landing craft developed in parallel . With a capacity of four LCACs, they can accommodate more boats of this type than any other US Navy ship.
In addition to transporting soldiers and cargo for landing companies, the ships can also be used to support humanitarian missions.
history
Planning and construction
The Whidbey Island class was slated in the 1970s to accommodate the new Landing Craft Air Cushioned . The design was to be derived from the previous Anchorage class . Due to specification changes, this cost-saving measure could not be carried out in the end, so that a complete new planning had to be carried out. Although the United States Congress supported the construction of the class, the government under Jimmy Carter delayed it again and again, in the meantime even put the whole concept of the landing craft to the test. The reason for this was the poor budget position of the United States during the period of stagflation and runaway inflation. The construction was finally approved under Ronald Reagan . The government pushed ahead with construction, as the dock landing ships to be replaced had reached the end of their service lives. Also, Reagan's Secretary of the Navy, John F. Lehman, had proclaimed the Navy's 600 Ships Program , from which the class benefited.
In early February 1981, shortly after Reagan came to power, the first unit of the class was commissioned, and all eight planned units were ordered within four and a half years. The commissioning of the first unit took place in 1985. All units were in service until 1992. The shipyard for the first three units was the Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company in Seattle , which was closed in 1987. The remaining five units were therefore manufactured at Avondale Shipyard in New Orleans . The costs for the Lockheed units, including planning, averaged around 300 million US dollars, the construction costs of the remaining five around 150 million US dollars.
In keeping with the tradition for naming such ship types, the ships were named after historical sites in the early United States, including Whidbey Island in Puget Sound , founding father George Mason's Villa Gunston Hall , the Dry Tortugas archipelago in the Florida Keys and the Mount Rushmore National Memorial .
period of service
In service, the units of the class replaced the older dock landing ships of the Thomaston class , which went into service between 1954 and 1957 and urgently had to be replaced. In addition, four units of the Harpers Ferry class were planned and built for this purpose . These have the same hull as the Whidbey Island class, but have a smaller corrugated deck to accommodate more cargo.
The units of the class are to be decommissioned from 2024, so the Navy is assuming a service life of around 40 years per unit. In order to be able to achieve this service time, the Navy began in 2008 to subject all ships to a mid-term modernization. The ships of the Whidbey Island and Harpers Ferry class are to be replaced by a new class that is currently being planned. The project name is LSD (X) , the procurement of 12 units of the replacement is to start from 2020 and then replace the old dock landing ships 1: 1.
According to a report by Jane's Information Group that has not been confirmed by the Navy , three ships of the class are due to be decommissioned as early as 2013 and 2014. The background to the plans are budget cuts.
Calls
The units completed before 1990 were used in the Second Gulf War. The ships were also used in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq . In addition to performing amphibious landing operations, the dock landing ships were used in humanitarian missions after Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake . In 2005 the Tortuga was in action off New Orleans. Large quantities of relief supplies could be brought ashore by means of the LCAC and by helicopter, while smaller boats of the ship could drive through the flooded streets to help the population directly. For residents who have become homeless, the ship has meanwhile served as a "floating hotel". The Fort McHenry and Rushmore units acted similarly after the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia.
In 2008, four units were stationed in the Pacific and four in the Atlantic. Home ports are in the Pacific the San Diego Naval Base for three and Sasebo in Japan for one unit, in the Atlantic the Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek .
technology
hull
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The Whidbey Island class ships are 185.6 meters long (overall, construction waterline 176.8 meters) and 25.6 meters wide. The draft is around 6.4 meters. When fully loaded, the ships displace around 16,000 ts . Both the hull and the superstructure are made of steel. The associated higher weight was accepted because steel is far more resistant than light metals such as aluminum, which was often used in the past, if a fire breaks out.
The superstructures with the deckhouse take up about the front third of the deck, behind it there is an area with a 60- and 20-ton crane for loading the well deck and a deck area next to the opening on which traffic boats are stored. This is followed by a landing deck for helicopters.
The corrugated deck takes up 134 meters of the 176 meter hull length internally. It is 15 meters wide and, with an area of over 2000 m², the largest of all ships in the United States Navy. In front of the Welldeck there is still 149 m³ for the storage of pallets and 1214 m² parking space for vehicles. The lower deck hold is loaded from the quay wall using the two cranes; alternatively, freight can also be embarked via the corrugated deck. The well deck is opened to the sea through a gate at the stern. To drive the amphibious vehicles in and out, it can be flooded aft to a depth of around three meters, and at the bow to around 1.8 meters. For this purpose, the ship takes in over 12,000 tons of sea water, so that the maximum displacement increases to up to 28,000 tons. In addition, a barrier can be used to keep any length of the corrugated deck dry towards the bow while the aft is flooded.
In addition to the regular crew of 22 officers and 391 crews, each ship of the class can also accommodate up to 504 marines (402 regular soldiers and up to 102 additional marines if required) depending on the type of mission. In addition to the capacity to carry out their main task, which is the transport and supply of troops and materials for landing operations, the ships have hospital facilities for medical (including dental) care. In the Welldeck, amphibious vehicles can not only be transported, but also repaired.
Landing vehicles and aircraft embarked
_welldeck.jpg)
The Whidbey Island class is the first class of ships in the US Navy designed for the transport of the LCAC (a hovercraft for landing operations) developed in parallel. On its large well deck, each ship can carry four LCACs, more than any other ship in the Navy. Alternatively, three LCUs , ten LCM-8 , 21 LCM-6 or up to 64 AAV7 can be loaded. It is possible to park a fifth LCAC in the parking area in front of the Welldeck.
A hangar does not exist on ships of this class, as is usually the case on dock landing ships. Two helicopters of any type can operate simultaneously on the landing deck, unless it is occupied by freight or vehicles. Permanent stationing is not planned due to the lack of a hangar and therefore no possibility of sheltered storage. For refueling helicopters, the ships carry 90 tons of JP-5 kerosene .
drive
The ships are powered by four 16-cylinder diesel engines from Colt Industries . These act on two shafts with one propeller each. Five-bladed controllable pitch propellers are used . The power of the drive system is 30,000 shaft horsepower. Power for the on-board systems is generated by four Ship Service Diesel Generators manufactured by Fairbanks, Morse and Company . Each generator has an output of 1.3 megawatts.
The US Navy officially states that the speed is 20+ knots. The range at a cruising speed of 20 knots is 8000 nautical miles without bunkering.
Armament
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The armament is exclusively defensive. It consists of two close-in-weapon systems of the type Phalanx CIWS and two starters for 21 RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles each . While the Phalanx gun tries to shoot incoming missiles with a large number of projectiles, the RIM-116 is a missile-based defense system. At the beginning the armament consisted only of the phalanx, the RAM were only retrofitted in the 1990s.
In addition, each ship has six Browning M2 machine guns with a .50 caliber and two Mk. 38 machine guns for defense against enemy speed boats or rubber dinghies, especially when the ships are in port.
During the planning, the Mark 71 lightweight gun was also discussed as a possible offensive armament, but this was rejected again.
electronics
On the deckhouse is a single mast on which the radar systems of the dock landing ships are located. An SPS-49 from Raytheon is in operation as aerial search radar , and a SPS-67 from Norden Systems / Northrop Grumman as surface search radar . SPS-64 , also from Raytheon, is installed as a navigation radar.
For electronic warfare is SLQ-32 package on board for self-defense against incoming rockets ships can the system Mark 36 SRBOC began, to deflect torpedoes capable AN / SLQ-25 Nixie be dragged. Approaching helicopters are guided by a Tactical Air Navigation (TACAN) of the type URN-25.
Mission profile
The Whidbey Island class dock landing ships are used as part of Expeditionary Strike Groups . These are grouped around an amphibious assault ship of either the America or Wasp class , and a mix of three destroyers and cruisers and a nuclear submarine are used as escorts . The dock landing ships serve as cargo ships in these groups. They transport up to 500 marines and their personal equipment, sometimes heavy equipment. These are landed with landing boats and / or helicopters.
Web links
- Fact sheet of the US Navy (English)
- Whidbey Island class on globalsecurity.org (English)
Footnotes
- ↑ a b Stefan Terzibaschitsch : Sea power USA . Bechtermünz-Verlag, ISBN 3-86047-576-2 , page 585
- ^ Stefan Terzibaschitsch: Sea power USA . Bechtermünz-Verlag, ISBN 3-86047-576-2 , page 892
- ↑ US Navy Shipbuilding on coltoncompany.com ( Memento from January 15, 1998 in the Internet Archive ) (Eng.)
- ^ The Future of the Navy's Amphibious and Maritime Prepositioning Forces. Congressional Budget Office, archived from the original on March 15, 2008 ; accessed on May 18, 2014 (eng).
