USS Kearsarge
Kearsarge (LHD-3) is the third Wasp-class amphibious assault ship of the US Navy. She is the fifth ship to be named (the fourth actually commissioned) in honour of the USS Kearsarge, a sloop-of-war that gained fame during the American Civil War, which was in turn named for Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire.
Kearsarge was laid down on 6 February 1990 at Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation of Pascagoula, Mississippi and was built using modular construction techniques. Hundreds of smaller sub-assemblies, containing piping, ventilation ducting and other hardware, as well as major machinery equipment, generators, and electrical panels were constructed. The sub-assemblies were then joined with others to form assemblies, which were in turn welded together to form five completed hull and superstructure modules. These giant modules, each weighing thousands of tons, were joined together on land to form the completed ship's hull. The result of this early outfitting was a ship that was over 70% complete at launch on 26 March 1992. She was christened on 16 May 1992, and commissioned on 16 October 1993.
The assault support system on the ship coordinates vertical and horizontal movement of troops, cargo and vehicles. Monorail trains, moving at speeds up to 3 m/s transport cargo and supplies from storage and staging areas throughout the ship to a 1,260 sq m well-deck, which opens to the sea through gates in the ship's stern. There, the cargo, troops and vehicles are loaded onto landing craft for transit to the beach. The LCACs can "fly" out of the dry well-deck, or the well-deck can be flooded so that conventional landing craft can float out on their way to the beach.
Simultaneously, helicopters can be lifted from the hangar deck to the flight deck by two deck-edge elevators and loaded with supplies from three cargo elevators.
Kearsarge's armament suite includes the NATO RIM-7 Sea Sparrow SAM point defense system, RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles, 25mm chain guns and the Phalanx CIWS to counter threats from low-flying aircraft and close-in small craft. Missile decoy launchers augment the anti-ship missile defenses.
Kearsarge is capable of amphibious assault, advance force and special purpose operations, as well as non-combatant evacuation and other humanitarian missions. Since her commissioning, she has performed these missions all over the world, including evacuating non-combatants from Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 31 May 1997 and rescuing US Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady from Serb-controlled territory in Bosnia on 8 June 1995.
Additionally, Kearsarge is fully equipped with state-of-the-art command and control systems for flagship command duty, and her medical facilities are second in capability only to the Navy's hospital ships, USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) and USNS Mercy (T-AH-19). These facilities allowed Kearsarge to serve a dual role during the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a platform for bombing missions against Serb forces in Operation Allied Force, and as a treatment facility for Albanian refugees in Operation Shining Hope.
On 19 August 2005, Kearsarge and USS Ashland (LSD-48) were targeted by rockets while in port in Jordan. The rockets flew over Ashland's bow and struck the pier adjacent to the ships. The vessels were not hit but one Jordanian soldier was killed and another was wounded.
On 2 March 2011, Kearsarge, along with USS Ponce (LPD-15), transitted the Suez Canal in response to the 2011 Libyan civil war. Along with an extra 400 Marines, they were moved in case they were needed to evacuate civilians or provide humanitarian relief. By 20 March, AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft from the Kearsarge were attacking Libyan targets as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn. On 22 March, V-22 Ospreys from the Kearsarge conducted a successful CSAR operation to recover the crew of a USAF F-15E Strike Eagle after it crashed in Libya due to a mechanical failure during a combat mission. The ship returned to home port at Norfolk on 16 May 2011.
She is seen here at Naval Station Norfolk in 2012.
USS Kearsarge
Kearsarge (LHD-3) is the third Wasp-class amphibious assault ship of the US Navy. She is the fifth ship to be named (the fourth actually commissioned) in honour of the USS Kearsarge, a sloop-of-war that gained fame during the American Civil War, which was in turn named for Mount Kearsarge in New Hampshire.
Kearsarge was laid down on 6 February 1990 at Litton-Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation of Pascagoula, Mississippi and was built using modular construction techniques. Hundreds of smaller sub-assemblies, containing piping, ventilation ducting and other hardware, as well as major machinery equipment, generators, and electrical panels were constructed. The sub-assemblies were then joined with others to form assemblies, which were in turn welded together to form five completed hull and superstructure modules. These giant modules, each weighing thousands of tons, were joined together on land to form the completed ship's hull. The result of this early outfitting was a ship that was over 70% complete at launch on 26 March 1992. She was christened on 16 May 1992, and commissioned on 16 October 1993.
The assault support system on the ship coordinates vertical and horizontal movement of troops, cargo and vehicles. Monorail trains, moving at speeds up to 3 m/s transport cargo and supplies from storage and staging areas throughout the ship to a 1,260 sq m well-deck, which opens to the sea through gates in the ship's stern. There, the cargo, troops and vehicles are loaded onto landing craft for transit to the beach. The LCACs can "fly" out of the dry well-deck, or the well-deck can be flooded so that conventional landing craft can float out on their way to the beach.
Simultaneously, helicopters can be lifted from the hangar deck to the flight deck by two deck-edge elevators and loaded with supplies from three cargo elevators.
Kearsarge's armament suite includes the NATO RIM-7 Sea Sparrow SAM point defense system, RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles, 25mm chain guns and the Phalanx CIWS to counter threats from low-flying aircraft and close-in small craft. Missile decoy launchers augment the anti-ship missile defenses.
Kearsarge is capable of amphibious assault, advance force and special purpose operations, as well as non-combatant evacuation and other humanitarian missions. Since her commissioning, she has performed these missions all over the world, including evacuating non-combatants from Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 31 May 1997 and rescuing US Air Force Captain Scott O'Grady from Serb-controlled territory in Bosnia on 8 June 1995.
Additionally, Kearsarge is fully equipped with state-of-the-art command and control systems for flagship command duty, and her medical facilities are second in capability only to the Navy's hospital ships, USNS Comfort (T-AH-20) and USNS Mercy (T-AH-19). These facilities allowed Kearsarge to serve a dual role during the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a platform for bombing missions against Serb forces in Operation Allied Force, and as a treatment facility for Albanian refugees in Operation Shining Hope.
On 19 August 2005, Kearsarge and USS Ashland (LSD-48) were targeted by rockets while in port in Jordan. The rockets flew over Ashland's bow and struck the pier adjacent to the ships. The vessels were not hit but one Jordanian soldier was killed and another was wounded.
On 2 March 2011, Kearsarge, along with USS Ponce (LPD-15), transitted the Suez Canal in response to the 2011 Libyan civil war. Along with an extra 400 Marines, they were moved in case they were needed to evacuate civilians or provide humanitarian relief. By 20 March, AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft from the Kearsarge were attacking Libyan targets as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn. On 22 March, V-22 Ospreys from the Kearsarge conducted a successful CSAR operation to recover the crew of a USAF F-15E Strike Eagle after it crashed in Libya due to a mechanical failure during a combat mission. The ship returned to home port at Norfolk on 16 May 2011.
She is seen here at Naval Station Norfolk in 2012.