 |
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. See talk page for details. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2009) |
 USS Mount Whitney (LCC/JCC 20) |
|
| Career (US) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Mount Whitney |
| Ordered: | 10 August 1966 |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company |
| Laid down: | 8 January 1969 |
| Launched: | 8 January 1970 |
| Commissioned: | 16 January 1971 |
| Homeport: | Gaeta, Italy |
| Status: | In active service, as of 2009[update] |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 18,400 tons full load |
| Length: | 189 metres (620.1 ft) |
| Beam: | 33 metres (108.3 ft) |
| Draft: | 906.78 centimetres (29.8 ft) full load |
| Propulsion: | Two boilers, one geared turbine |
| Capacity: | 930 |
| Complement: | 170 officers and enlisted men; and 155 Military Sealift Command civilian sailors |
| Armament: | Two Phalanx CIWS Two 25 mm Bushmaster cannons Four .50 cal. machine guns, Mark 36 SRBOC chaff rockets |
| Aircraft carried: | One helicopter, currently a SH-60 Knight Hawk |
The USS Mount Whitney (LCC/JCC 20) is a Blue Ridge class command ship of the US Navy; it is the flagship of the Sixth Fleet. She is also the command and control ship for the Commander Joint Command Lisbon and the Commander Striking Force NATO. She had previously served for years as the Second Fleet's command ship.
She was classified as the LCC-20 on 1 January 1969, and she was laid down on 8 January by Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Company, Newport News, Virginia. This ship is named for Mount Whitney, a peak in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California.
Considered by some to be the most sophisticated Command, Control, Communications, Computer, and Intelligence (C4I) ship ever commissioned, Mount Whitney incorporates various elements of the most advanced C4I equipment and gives the embarked Joint Task Force Commander the capability to effectively command all units under his or her command.
The Mount Whitney can transmit and receive large amounts of secure data to and from any point on earth through HF, UHF, VHF, and SHF (satellite communications) communications channels. This electronic technology enables the Joint Intelligence Center and Joint Operations Center to provide the most timely intelligence and operational support available in the Navy.
The Mount Whitney deployed in 1994 to Haiti with LTG Hugh Shelton, the commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps, in command of the Joint Task Force that conducted Operation Uphold Democracy.
On 12 November 2002, Mount Whitney deployed to the Central Command area of responsibility in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. She was acting as the initial command post for Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa. During the deployment, the ship embarked elements of the 2nd Marine Division and II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF), based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, under the command of Maj. Gen. John F. Sattler and Captain Morton W. Kenyon.
In 2004, Military Sealift Command civilian sailors were integrated into her crew. She remains a commissioned warship in the United States Navy, but the size of her crew was reduced from about 600 sailors to about 170 Navy officers and enlisted men and 155 civilians.
In February 2005, Mount Whitney left Norfolk for Gaeta, Italy where she was redesignated as the (LCC/JCC 20) and assumed duties as the 6th Fleet flagship, officially relieving La Salle. She also assumed duties as the command ship for the Commander Joint Command Lisbon and the Commander Striking Force NATO.
In August 2008, Mount Whitney was deployed to the Black Sea in support of Operation Assured Delivery to deliver humanitarian aid to those affected by the Russian-Georgian war [1] and became the first NATO ship to deliver aid to port of Poti, Georgia.[2].
On 6 November 2008, Mount Whitney was unable to enter the port at Sevastopol. The city authorities and representatives of Ukraine's Navy wouldn't comment on the event. Sources in the City Administration only reported that the US ship's visit failed due to problems with border crossing documents. However it is more likely that anti-NATO protests may have been the cause.[3][4]
References
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: USS Mount Whitney (LCC-20) |
|
||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
