PCU America (LHA-6), the fourth American warship to be named for the United States of America,[11] will be the first of the America-class amphibious assault ships for the U.S. Navy. As of 2014 she will be delivered in spring of 2014,[12] replacing USS Peleliu (LHA-5) of the Tarawa class. Her mission is to act as the flagship of an expeditionary strike group or amphibious ready group, carrying part of a Marine expeditionary unit into battle and putting them ashore with helicopters and V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, supported by F-35B Lightning II aircraft and helicopter gunships.
The ship's design is based on USS Makin Island (LHD-8), but to allow more room for aviation facilities she does not have a well deck, and has smaller medical spaces. With a displacement of 45,000 tons, she is as large as the aircraft carriers of many other nations, and can fulfill similar missions when configured with 20 F-35B strike fighters.
SAN DIEGO (Sept. 15, 2014) - Sailors and Marines man the rails as the future USS America (LHA 6) passes Naval Air Station North Island and makes its way to a new homeport at Naval Base San Diego. America will be commissioned Oct. 11 during a ceremony in San Francisco. (U.S. Navy photo by Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Donnie W. Ryan/Released)
USS AMERICA will be the fourth ship to bear our nation’s name. Her predecessors include a 74-gun ship of the line constructed for the Continental Navy, a World War I troop ship, and a Vietnam-era aircraft carrier.
USS AMERICA is the first of a new class of amphibious assault ships. Her mission will be to embark, transport, control, insert, sustain and extract elements of a marine air-ground task force, and support forces by helicopters and tilt-rotor aircraft. Her sponsor, Lynn Pace, describes her as “a sort of mini-aircraft carrier”, capable of handling current and future Marine Corps helicopters and tilt-rotor aircraft.
USS AMERICA is big: 844 feet in length, 106 feet wide, sitting 26 feet deep in the ocean. Her displacement fully loaded will be 45,700 metric tons (about 51,180 US tons). She was laid down at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula MS in July 2009. Mrs Pace, wife of former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps General Peter Pace, christened the ship on 20 October 2012. After the ship is commissioned on 11 October, she will be home ported in San Diego.
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