Advertisements

Naval Warfare

USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20)

Command and Control Ship [ 1971 ]

Commissioned in 1971, USS Mount Whitney continues in active service with the United States Navy today, making her home port abroad in Gaeta, Italy.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 07/19/2017 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

Image from the United States Department of Defense imagery database.

GO TO SPECIFICATIONS [+]

Advertisements

The Blue Ridge-class command ship group was formed during the Cold War in the late 1960s and went on to include USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) and USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20). Still in service today, the class has been continuously outfitted with the latest in Command and Control (CC2) systems as well as secured intelligence-gathering and communications systems, making them the primary post for commanders during naval-related operations (both in peacetime and wartime).

USS Mount Whitney was ordered on August 10th, 1966 and saw her keel laid down on January 8th, 1969. She was launched on January 8th, 1970 and formally commissioned on January 16th, 1971. With her commitment to NATO operations in and around Europe, she makes her homeport in Gaeta, Italy and continues in active service today (2017). USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) is stationed at Yokosuka, Japan.

Mount Whitney displaces 18,400 tons under load and holds an overall length of 620 feet, a beam of 108 feet and a draught down to 29.7 feet. Her propulsion scheme is conventional, fed by two boilers supplying a single geared turbine driving a single shaft. The onboard complement is 170 made up of officers and enlisted crew while a further 155 are formed from civilian sailors from Military Sealift Command. Up to 930 total personnel can be carried.©MilitaryFactory.com

Advertisements

Armament is purely self-defensive in nature and led by 2 x 25mm Bushmaster automatic cannons. This is backed by 2 x 20mm Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWSs). For extreme close-in defense, the vessel carried up to 4 x 0.50 caliber Browning M2 heavy machine guns. Mark 36 SRBOC ("Super-Rapid Bloom Offboard Countermeasures and decoy-launching system") units serve to launch rocketed chaff in an effort to confuse incoming enemy missiles.

The warship's profile is unique as the deck line is unbroken for the length of the ship (bow to stern). At midships is the bridge superstructure containing the exposed mast works as well as the radar and communications fits. Over near-stern is a secondary, slab-sided mast structure capped by a dome. Over the stern proper is a landing zone for a single medium-lift navy helicopter - the standard today (2017) being a Sikorsky MH-60S Knight Hawk (detailed elsewhere on this site).

To date, USS Mount Whitney has participated in several high profile operations: the Haiti intervention of 1994-1995 through 'Operation Uphold Democracy', the invasion of Afghanistan (beginning November 2002) with Central Command as part of the 'War on Terror', humanitarian support during the Russo-Georgian War of 2008, and UN support concerning the Civil War in Libya. In February of 2013, she entered a period of overhauling and returned to service that April. In 2014, she formed part of the American security arm at the Sochi Olympics hosted by Russia.©MilitaryFactory.com

Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. If you happen upon this text anywhere else on the internet or in print, please let us know at MilitaryFactory AT gmail DOT com so that we may take appropriate action against the offender / offending site and continue to protect this original work.

Specifications

Service Year

1971

Origin

United States

Complement

325
PERSONNEL

Class

Blue Ridge-class

Number-in-Class

2
VESSELS

Ships-in-Class

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

United States

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Amphibious Assault
A shallow draught, and other qualities, give this vessel the ability to support amphibious assault operations close-to-shore.

Length

620.0 ft
188.98 m

Beam

108.2 ft
32.98 m

Draught

30.0 ft
9.14 m

Displacement

18,400
tons

Installed Power: 2 x Boilers with 1 x Geared steam turbine driving 1 x shaft.

Surface Speed

23.0 kts
(26.5 mph)

Range

10,002 nm
(11,510 mi | 18,524 km)

2 x 20mm Phalanx Close-In Weapon Systems (CIWSs)

2 x 25mm Bushmaster autocannons

4 x 12.7mm Browning M2 heavy machine guns

Supported Types

Graphical image of an aircraft medium machine gun

Graphical image of an aircraft heavy machine gun

Graphical image of an aircraft Gatling-style rotating gun

(Not all weapon types may be represented in the showcase above)

1 x Sikorsky SH-60 Knight Hawk Navy helicopter

Military lapel ribbon for the Cold War period

Military lapel ribbon for early warship designs

Military lapel ribbon for the Falklands War

Military lapel ribbon for the 1991 Gulf War

Military lapel ribbon for the Korean War

Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft

Military lapel ribbon for the Attack on Pearl Harbor

Military lapel ribbon for the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

Military lapel ribbon for the Vietnam War

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 1

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 2

Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective naval campaigns / operations / periods.