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The Tarawa class is a ship class of Landing Helicopter Assault (LHA) type amphibious assault ships operated by the United States Navy (USN). Five ships were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding between 1971 and 1980; another four ships were planned, but later canceled; instead they were joined by the Wasp-class amphibious assault ships.

USS Saipan during Expeditionary Strike Group integration training in 2004
Class overview
Name	Tarawa class
Builders	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	Iwo Jima class
Succeeded by	Wasp class
Built	15 November 1971 – 3 May 1980
In commission	29 May 1976–31 March 2015
Planned	9
Completed	5
Cancelled	4
Retired	5
General characteristics
Class and type	Amphibious assault ship/LHA
Displacement	39,967 tonnes (39,336 long tons; 44,056 short tons) full load
Length	834 feet (254 m)
Beam	131.9 feet (40.2 m)
Draft	25.9 feet (7.9 m)
Propulsion	2 × Combustion Engineering boilers 2 × Westinghouse turbines 70,000 horsepower (52,000 kW) 2 × propeller shafts 1 × bow thruster
Speed	24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph)
Range	10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	4 × LCU 1610 Or two LCU and two LCM-8 Or 17 LCM-6 Or 45 LVT
Troops	1,703
Complement	56 officers, 874 sailors (1998)
Armament	As of 1998: Mark 49 RAM missile system 2 × Vulcan Phalanx 6 × 25 mm automatic cannons 8 × 12.7 mm machine guns Previous weapons: 2 × 8 cell MK- 25 NATO Sea Sparrow BPDMS launchers (replaced by Phalanx units) 3 × 5-inch (127 mm) Mk 45 lightweight guns (deleted 1997–1998)
Aircraft carried	Up to 19 Sea Stallions, 26 Sea Knights, or mixed airgroup 6 Harrier jump-jets
Aviation facilities	820-by-118.1-foot (249.9 by 36.0 m) flight deck with 2 aircraft lifts

As of March 2015^[update], all vessels had been decommissioned. The Tarawa class were replaced by the America-class amphibious assault ships from 2014 onward while the Wasp class remains in service.

Design

The vessels have a full load displacement of 39,967 tonnes (39,336 long tons; 44,056 short tons).[1] Each ship is 834 feet (254 m) long, with a beam of 131.9 feet (40.2 m), and a draft of 25.9 feet (7.9 m).[1]

Propulsion is provided by two Combustion Engineering boilers, connected to two Westinghouse turbines.[1] These supply 70,000 horsepower (52,000 kW) to the ship's two propeller shafts.[1] A Tarawa-class vessel can reach a maximum speed of 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph), and has a maximum range of 10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).[1] In addition to the main propulsion system, the ships are fitted with a bow thruster.[1]

As of 1998, the ships' armament consisted of a Mark 49 RAM surface-to-air missile system, two Vulcan Phalanx close-in weapons systems, six Mark 242 25 mm automatic cannons, and eight 12.7 mm machine guns.[1] Previously, the amphibious warships were fitted with 2 Mark 25 Sea Sparrow missile systems (which were replaced by the Phalanx units), and three 5-inch (127 mm) Mk 45 lightweight guns in bow and starboard aft sponsons (the guns were removed across the class during 1997 and 1998).[1] Countermeasures and decoys include four Mark 36 SRBOC launchers, a SLQ-25 Nixie towed torpedo decoy, a Sea Gnat unit, SLQ-49 chaff decoys.[1]

The number of helicopters carried by each vessel was up to 19 Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallions, 26 Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight, or a mix of the two.[1] The 820-by-118.1-foot (249.9 by 36.0 m) flight deck is fitted with two aircraft lifts, and up to nine Sea Stallions or 12 Sea Knights can be operated simultaneously.[1] With a small amount of modification, the ships could carry and operate up to six McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II jump-jets.[1]

The Tarawa-class ships are designed to embark a reinforced battalion of the United States Marine Corps and their equipment.[1] Onboard accommodation is provided for up to 1,703 marines, while 33,730 cubic feet (955 m³) is provided for the battalion's vehicles, and 116,900 cubic feet (3,310 m³) is allocated for stores and other equipment.[1] As well as deploying by helicopters, personnel and equipment can be embarked or offloaded via a 268-by-78-foot (82 by 24 m) well deck in each ship's stern.[1] Up to four LCU 1610 landing craft can be transported in and operated from the well deck, along with other designs and combinations of landing craft (two LCU and two LCM-8, or 17 LCM-6, or 45 LVT).[1]

The Tarawa design was later repeated for the Wasp-class amphibious assault ships, with some changes.[2] The main changes to the latter eight-ship class include the lower placement of the ship's bridge aboard the Wasps, the relocation of the command and control facilities to inside the hull, modifications to allow the operation of Harrier jump-jets and Landing Craft Air Cushion hovercraft, and removal of the 5-inch guns and their sponsons to increase the overall size of the flight deck.[2][3]

Construction

All five warships were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, at this company's shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi.[1] Tarawa was approved for construction during fiscal year 1969, with two more ships of this class ordered by Congress in the 1970 and 1971 fiscal years.[1]

Design problems emerged early in the LHA program and contrary to the intent of the Total Package Procurement concept, the Navy became heavily involved in the design process.[4] Nine ships were originally contracted for the Tarawa class, but that number was reduced to five in January 1971.[4] The other four ships were never built for the Navy.[1]

Work on the first warship of this class, USS Tarawa, began on 15 November 1971, and she was commissioned into the Navy on 29 May 1976.[1] The last of the five ships, USS Peleliu, was completed on 3 May 1980.[1]

Decommissioning and replacement

The Tarawas began leaving service in 2005. By April 2011, four of the five amphibious assault ships had been decommissioned, leaving only Peleliu in active service.[5] Peleliu was decommissioned on 31 March 2015 in San Diego.[6]

The Tarawa class is to be replaced by the America class.[3] The first America-class vessel was delivered and commissioned in 2014.

Ships in class

Name	Hull number	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Fate
Tarawa	LHA-1	15 November 1971	1 December 1973	29 May 1976	31 March 2009	In reserve, requested as museum ship
Saipan	LHA-2	21 July 1972	18 July 1974	15 October 1977	25 April 2007	Scrapped 2009
Belleau Wood (ex-Philippine Sea)	LHA-3	5 March 1973	11 April 1977	23 September 1978	28 October 2005	Sunk as target ship on 13 July 2006
Nassau (ex-Leyte Gulf)	LHA-4	13 August 1973	21 January 1978	28 July 1979	31 March 2011	Scrapped 2021[7]
Peleliu (ex-Da Nang, ex-Khe Sanh)	LHA-5	12 November 1976	25 November 1978	3 May 1980	31 March 2015	In reserve

Citations

References

• Bishop, Chris; Chant, Christopher (2004). Aircraft Carriers: the world's greatest naval vessels and their aircraft. London: MBI. ISBN 0-7603-2005-5. OCLC 56646560.
• Sharpe, Richard, ed. (1998). Jane's Fighting Ships 1998–99 (101st ed.). Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Information Group. ISBN 0-7106-1795-X. OCLC 39372676.
• Wertheim, Eric, ed. (2007). The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World: Their Ships, Aircraft, and Systems (15th ed.). Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-955-2. OCLC 140283156.

External links

• The USS Tarawa (LHA-1) Amphibious Assault Ship Museum

На других языках

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[de] Tarawa-Klasse

Bei der Tarawa-Klasse handelte es sich um amphibische Angriffsschiffe der United States Navy. Ihre Designation LHA steht für Landing Deck, Helicopter Assault. Neben Hubschraubern transportieren die Schiffe auch Landungsboote. Die Klasse ist benannt nach der Insel Tarawa, auf der die US Marines im Zweiten Weltkrieg in der Schlacht um die Gilbertinseln gekämpft haben.

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- [en] Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship

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[fr] Classe Tarawa

Les navires de classe Tarawa sont des navires d'assaut amphibie (Landing Helicopter Assault selon la liste des codes des immatriculations des navires de l'US Navy), conçus pour déployer des forces terrestres sur des rives ennemies.

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[ru] Универсальные десантные корабли типа «Тарава»

Универсальные десантные корабли типа «Тарава» — тип универсальных десантных кораблей ВМС США, построенных в 1971—1978 годах. Названы в память о битве за Тараву. На 2011 год в строю находился только один корабль данной серии[1]; в 2015 году он был выведен из состава флота[2].

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