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Also see:
Battle of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima Battle Ships
Iwo Jima Battle Assault
Ship LHD-7
Iwo Jima Battle Assault
Ship LPH-2 Operations
Battle of Iwo Jima -
American Landing
Battle of Iwo Jima -
Japanese Defense
Iwo Jima
Battle Assault Ship LPH-2
USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) was the
lead ship of her class-the first ship to be designed and
built from the keel up as an amphibious assault ship. She
carried helicopters and a detachment of embarked Marines
for use in the Navy's "vertical envelopment"
concept of amphibious operations. Iwo Jima was the second
ship of the United States Navy to be named for the
Battle of Iwo Jima.
| General Specifications |
| Displacement: |
18473 tons
(full)
11000 tons (light) |
| Length: |
593 ft
(180 m) |
| Beam: |
84 ft
(26 m) |
| Draught: |
27 ft
(8 m) |
| Propulsion
and power: |
2 �
600 psi (4 MPa) boilers,
one geared steam turbine,
one shaft,
22,000 shaft horsepower
(16 MW) |
| Speed: |
22 knots
(41 km/h) |
| Complement: |
667 |
| Troops |
2,157 |
| Armament: |
2 �
3 in (76 mm) / 50 caliber AA guns,
8 cell Sea Sparrow BPDMS launchers,
2 � Phalanx |
| Aircraft
carried: |
25
helicopters |
Iwo Jima battle assault ship was laid down 2 April 1959
by Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Wash.; launched
17 September 1960, sponsored by Mrs. Harry Schmidt; and
commissioned 26 August 1961, Captain T. D. Harris in
command.
Following shakedown training, she spent the rest of 1961
off the California coast in amphibious exercises. In
April 1962 the ship joined Joint Task Force 8 in the
Johnston Island-Hawaii area for an important series of
nuclear tests. Iwo Jima evacuated several islands and
took part in the test evaluation. She sailed for Pearl
Harbor 26 July from the test area, and continued to San
Diego, where she arrived 10 August 1962.
In September the ship took part in full-scale amphibious
exercises in California, departing 17 October from San
Diego for her first deployment to the western Pacific. As
a crisis flared 19 October over the introduction of
offensive missiles into Cuba, however, Iwo Jima battle
assault ship returned to San Diego, embarked Marines 22
October to 27 October, and departed quickly for the
Caribbean. As part of America's powerful and mobile force
afloat, she cruised in a "ready" status until
December brought an easing of the Cuban situation. She
arrived San Diego 13 December.
Text is available
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
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