Wasp Transitting Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
The Wasp is a US Navy multi-purpose amphibious assault ship. She is the lead ship of her class, the 10th US Navy vessel to bear the name, and was the flagship of the Second Fleet.
She was built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Litton in Pascagoula, Mississippi and was first commissioned in June 1989. Her class was the first specifically designed to accommodate the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) for fast troop movement over the beach, and Harrier II AV-8B V/STOL jets which provide close air support for the assault force. The AV-8B Plus used by the US Marines was last produced in 2003, and is expected to remain operational until 2025.
With a full load displacement of over 41,000 tonnes, Wasp is 257m long, with a beam of 32m and a draught of 8.1m. She can accommodate the full range of Navy and Marine Corps helicopters, the tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey, conventional landing craft, and amphibious vehicles.
From 2004, in a period when all the rest of the US Navy's flattops have been heavily tasked and often kept on lengthy deployments, Wasp was not been sent on an extended deployment, being used once as a surge deployment unit, but more routinely as a trials platform for various equipments, whilst also participating in exercises up and down the eastern seaboard. From 2011 the ship was assigned to Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) F-35B Lightning II testing. She is seen here from South Thimble Island, inbound to Norfolk Naval Base, having just transitted the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel during a gap in these trials.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) is a 28.3 km bridge–tunnel crossing at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. It connects Northampton County on the Delmarva Peninsula (in the distance above) and Eastern Shore with Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Portsmouth on the western shore (in the foreground).
The bridge–tunnel originally combined 19 km of trestle, two 1.6 km tunnels, four artificial islands, four high-level bridges, approximately 3.2 km of causeway, and 8.9 km of north-east and south-west approach roads crossing the Chesapeake Bay and preserving traffic on the Thimble Shoals and Chesapeake dredged shipping channels leading to the Atlantic. It replaced vehicle ferry services that operated from South Hampton Roads and from the Virginia Peninsula since the 1930s. Financed by toll revenue bonds, the bridge-tunnel was opened on 15 April 1964. The bridge–tunnel saves motorists 153 km and 1½ hours on a trip between Virginia Beach-Norfolk and points north and east of Chesapeake Bay.
In 1990-1999, at an additional cost of almost $200 million, the capacity of the above-water portion of bridges on the facility was increased and widened to four lanes. An upgrade of the two-lane tunnels is currently underway. The crossing was officially named the Lucius J Kellam Jr. Bridge–Tunnel in August 1987, 23 years after opening, honouring one of the civic leaders who had long worked for its development, construction and operation.
Wasp Transitting Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
The Wasp is a US Navy multi-purpose amphibious assault ship. She is the lead ship of her class, the 10th US Navy vessel to bear the name, and was the flagship of the Second Fleet.
She was built by the Ingalls Shipbuilding division of Litton in Pascagoula, Mississippi and was first commissioned in June 1989. Her class was the first specifically designed to accommodate the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) for fast troop movement over the beach, and Harrier II AV-8B V/STOL jets which provide close air support for the assault force. The AV-8B Plus used by the US Marines was last produced in 2003, and is expected to remain operational until 2025.
With a full load displacement of over 41,000 tonnes, Wasp is 257m long, with a beam of 32m and a draught of 8.1m. She can accommodate the full range of Navy and Marine Corps helicopters, the tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey, conventional landing craft, and amphibious vehicles.
From 2004, in a period when all the rest of the US Navy's flattops have been heavily tasked and often kept on lengthy deployments, Wasp was not been sent on an extended deployment, being used once as a surge deployment unit, but more routinely as a trials platform for various equipments, whilst also participating in exercises up and down the eastern seaboard. From 2011 the ship was assigned to Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) F-35B Lightning II testing. She is seen here from South Thimble Island, inbound to Norfolk Naval Base, having just transitted the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel during a gap in these trials.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) is a 28.3 km bridge–tunnel crossing at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. It connects Northampton County on the Delmarva Peninsula (in the distance above) and Eastern Shore with Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, and Portsmouth on the western shore (in the foreground).
The bridge–tunnel originally combined 19 km of trestle, two 1.6 km tunnels, four artificial islands, four high-level bridges, approximately 3.2 km of causeway, and 8.9 km of north-east and south-west approach roads crossing the Chesapeake Bay and preserving traffic on the Thimble Shoals and Chesapeake dredged shipping channels leading to the Atlantic. It replaced vehicle ferry services that operated from South Hampton Roads and from the Virginia Peninsula since the 1930s. Financed by toll revenue bonds, the bridge-tunnel was opened on 15 April 1964. The bridge–tunnel saves motorists 153 km and 1½ hours on a trip between Virginia Beach-Norfolk and points north and east of Chesapeake Bay.
In 1990-1999, at an additional cost of almost $200 million, the capacity of the above-water portion of bridges on the facility was increased and widened to four lanes. An upgrade of the two-lane tunnels is currently underway. The crossing was officially named the Lucius J Kellam Jr. Bridge–Tunnel in August 1987, 23 years after opening, honouring one of the civic leaders who had long worked for its development, construction and operation.