Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship class overviewTemplate:Infobox ship characteristics {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Infobox ship characteristics

The Wasp class is a class of landing helicopter dock (LHD) amphibious assault ships operated by the United States Navy. Based on the Template:Sclass, with modifications to operate more advanced aircraft and landing craft, the Wasp class is capable of transporting almost the full strength of a United States Marine Corps Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), and landing them in hostile territory via landing craft or helicopters as well as providing air support via AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft or F-35B Lightning II stealth strike-fighters. All Wasp-class ships were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, at Pascagoula, Mississippi, with the lead ship, Template:USS, commissioned on 29 July 1989. Eight Wasp-class ships were built, and Template:As of, seven are in active service, as Template:USS was seriously damaged by fire on 12 July 2020, and subsequently decommissioned in April 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Design

The Wasp class is based on the preceding Template:Sclass design.<ref name=BisChan230>Bishop & Chant, Aircraft Carriers, p. 230</ref> The design was modified to allow for the operation of AV-8B Harrier II aircraft and Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) hovercraft, making the Wasp class the first ships specifically designed to operate these.<ref name="military today">Template:Cite web</ref>

File:USS Saipan (LHA-2) and USS Wasp (LHD-1) at Norfolk in 1993.JPEG

Wasp, left, and Tarawa-class Template:USS, in 1993.

The main physical changes between the two designs are the lower placement of the ship's bridge in the Wasp class, the relocation of the command and control facilities to inside the hull,<ref name=BisChan230/> the removal of the [[5"/54 caliber Mark 45 gun|Template:Convert Mk 45 naval guns]] and their sponsons on the forward edge of the flight deck, and a lengthening of Template:Convert to carry the LCACs.Template:Citation needed

Each Wasp-class ship has a displacement of Template:Convert at full load, is Template:Convert long, has a beam of Template:Convert, and a draft of Template:Convert.<ref name=BisChan231>Bishop & Chant, Aircraft Carriers, p. 231.</ref> For propulsion, most of the ships are fitted with two steam boilers connected to geared turbines, which deliver Template:Convert to the two propeller shafts.<ref name=BisChan231/> This allows the LHDs to reach speeds of Template:Convert, with a range of Template:Convert at Template:Convert.<ref name=BisChan231/> The last ship of the class, Template:USS, was instead fitted with two General Electric LM2500 geared gas turbines.<ref name="New Hybrid Ship">Template:Cite news</ref> The ship's company consists of 1,208 personnel.<ref name=BisChan231/>

Amphibious operations

The LHDs can support amphibious landings in two forms: by landing craft and by helicopter.<ref name=BisChan231/> In the Template:Convert by Template:Convert high well deck,<ref name="Warships Forecast"/> the LHDs can carry three Landing Craft Air Cushion, twelve Landing Craft Mechanised, or 40 Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAVs), with another 21 AAVs on the vehicle deck.<ref name=BisChan231/> The flight deck has nine helicopter landing spots and can operate helicopters and tiltrotors as large as the Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion and MV-22B Osprey.<ref name=BisChan231/> The size of the air combat element varies depending on the operation: a standard air combat element consists of six Harriers or six F-35B Lightning IIs and four AH-1W/Z Super Cobra/Viper attack helicopters for attack and support, twelve Ospreys and four Super Stallions for transport, and three or four Bell UH-1Y Venom utility helicopters.<ref name=FAS>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=BisChan231/> For a full assault, the air group can have a maximum of 22 Ospreys, while a Wasp operating in the sea control or "Harrier carrier" or "Lightning carrier" configuration carries 20 AV-8Bs or F-35Bs (though some ships of the class have operated as many as 24 Harriers), supported by 6 Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk helicopters for anti-submarine warfare.<ref name=FAS/><ref name=BisChan231/> Two aircraft elevators move aircraft between the flight deck and the hangar; in order to transit the Panama Canal, these elevators need to be folded in.<ref name=BisChan231/>

File:USS Essex Thailand.jpg

USS Essex performing a stern gate mating with a landing craft

Each ship is capable of hosting 1,894 personnel of the United States Marine Corps; almost the full strength of a marine expeditionary unit (MEU).<ref name=BisChan231/> A Wasp-class vessel can transport up to Template:Convert of cargo, and another Template:Convert is allocated for the MEU's vehicles, which typically include 5 M1 Abrams battle tanks, up to 25 AAVs, 8 M198 howitzers, 68 trucks, and up to 12 other support vehicles.<ref name=BisChan231/> A six-track internal monorail system and six Template:Convert internal elevators are used to shift cargo from the cargo holds to landing craft in the well deck.<ref name="Warships Forecast"/><ref name=BisChan231/>

Each Wasp-class ship has a hospital with 64 patient beds and 6 operating rooms. An additional 536 beds can be set up in an overflow casualty ward as needed.<ref name=BisChan231/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Armament and sensors

File:Sailors stand watch aboard USS Wasp (LHD 1). (50432290347).jpg

Air traffic control aboard USS Wasp

The armament of the first four Wasp class consists of two Mark 29 octuple launchers for RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles, two Mark 49 launchers for RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles, three 20 mm Phalanx CIWSs, four 25 mm Mark 38 chain gun systems, and four .50 caliber machine guns.<ref name=BisChan231/> The next four ships, Template:USS, Template:USS, Template:USS, and Template:USS, have a slightly reduced weapons outfit compared to their preceding sister ships, with one Phalanx and one Mark 38 gun removed.<ref name=BisChan231/>

Countermeasures fitted to the ships include four to six Mark 36 SRBOC chaff and decoy launchers, an AN/SLQ-25 torpedo decoy, AN/SLQ-49 chaff buoys, a Sea Gnat missile decoy, and an AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite.<ref name=BisChan231/>

The sensor suite fitted to each ship comprises an AN/SPS-48 or AN/SPS-52 air-search radar backed up by an AN/SPS-49 air-search radar, an SPS-67 surface search radar, an AN/URN-25 TACAN system, along with several additional radars for navigation and fire control.<ref name=BisChan231/>

Construction

All Wasp-class ships were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, at Pascagoula, Mississippi.<ref>Template:Cite press release</ref> The first ship of the class, Template:USS, was commissioned on 29 July 1989.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

The fifth ship of the class, Template:USS, was constructed through a process of modular assembly and prefitting out, which meant that the LHD was almost 75 percent complete when she was launched.<ref name=BisChan231/> Bataan was also the first LHD that was purpose built to house female crew members (as opposed to being modified after completion), with dedicated berths for up to 450 female sailors or Marines.<ref name=BisChan231/>

Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera in 2014 suggested that Japan purchase at least one Wasp-class ship to provide robust defensive amphibious capability for Japanese outer islands in the face of Chinese threats.<ref>Onodera sets out plans to buy amphibious assault ships (archived from the original on 26 July 2014)</ref>

Ships in class

Name	Hull number	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Homeport	Status
Template:USS	LHD-1	30 May 1985	4 August 1987	29 July 1989		Norfolk, Virginia	Active in service
Template:USS	LHD-2	20 March 1989	23 February 1991	17 October 1992		San Diego, California	Active in service
Template:USS	LHD-3	6 February 1990	26 March 1992	16 October 1993		Norfolk, Virginia	Active in service
Template:USS	LHD-4	18 April 1991	13 August 1993	11 February 1995		San Diego, California	Active in service
Template:USS	LHD-5	22 June 1994	15 March 1996	20 September 1997		Norfolk, Virginia	Active in service
Template:USS	LHD-6	18 April 1995	14 March 1997	15 August 1998	15 April 2021<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>		Sold for scrap
Template:USS	LHD-7	12 December 1997	4 February 2000	30 June 2001		Norfolk, Virginia	Active in service
Template:USS	LHD-8	14 February 2004	22 September 2006	24 October 2009		San Diego, California	Active in service

• A Sea Sparrow missile being launched by USS Makin Island
  A Sea Sparrow missile being launched by USS Makin Island
• A CH-53E Super Stallion lifting pallets off USS Bataan
  A CH-53E Super Stallion lifting pallets off USS Bataan
• USS Bonhomme Richard on fire at Naval Base San Diego, California, on 12 July 2020.
  USS Bonhomme Richard on fire at Naval Base San Diego, California, on 12 July 2020.

References

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book

External links

• Seaforces.org