Key Points and Summary – America-class LHAs are the Navy’s largest amphibs and “lightning carriers” for USMC F-35B STOVL jets.
-Flight 0 ships—USS America (LHA-6) and USS Tripoli (LHA-7)—omit a well deck to add fuel, maintenance space, and a 20–25 aircraft air group, boosting F-35B reach and sortie rates.
-Specs: ~45,700 tons, 844 ft, two gas turbines, >20 knots, and ESSM/RAM/CIWS self-defense. America is returning to San Diego; Tripoli is forward-deployed to Sasebo.
-Flight I restores the well deck while keeping an aviation focus: Bougainville (LHA-8) commissions around 2026, followed by Fallujah (LHA-9) and Helmand Province (LHA-10).
America-Class Assault Ship Explainer: It Carries F-35Bs
For the United States Navy, there couldn’t be a more patriotic moniker for a class of warships than, well, quite frankly, America. (Back in the heady days of the Cold War, there was a plan for a United States-class of supercarriers, but alas, that plan was abruptly cancelled.
Meanwhile, going back to the days of wooden sailing ships, there was the heavy frigate USS United States, which kicked a lot of derriere during the Quasi-War, War of 1812, and Second Barbary War.)
Accordingly, National Security Journal now discusses the America-class landing helicopter assault (LHA) type amphibious assault ships, including a very special feature. (MINI-SPOILER ALERT: The Americas’ biggest selling point is that they carry F-35.)
America-Class Amphibious Assault Ship Initial History and Concept
As noted by the official US Navy info page, “LHAs are the largest of all amphibious warfare ships, resembling a small aircraft carrier. They are capable of Vertical/Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL), Short Take-Off Vertical Landing (STOVL), Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) tilt-rotor and Rotary Wing (RW) aircraft operations.
LHA Flight 0 will enhance Marine Corps aviation with greater maintenance capability and JP-5 fuel capacity in lieu of a well deck. LHA Flight 1 will reincorporate a well deck to enhance expeditionary war fighting capabilities while maintaining the principal aviation characteristics of the Flight 0.”
The America class of LHAs is the designated successor to, and indeed a variant of, the Wasp class. Wasp is another proud name in USN annals, from the sloop-of-war that bagged a reindeer (as in HMS Reindeer) during the War of 1812 to the two World War II aircraft carriers.
The America-class ships are built by Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) at the Ingalls Shipbuilding facility in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Appropriately enough, USS America (LHA-6) is the lead ship of the class, laid down on April 27, 2009, launched on June 4, 2012, christened on October 20, 2012, and commissioned on October 11, 2014. Her motto is “BELLO VEL PACE PARATUS (prepared in war or in peace).” She was followed by the sister ship USS Tripoli (LHA-7), laid down on June 20, 2014, launched on May 1, 2017, christened on September 16, 2017, and commissioned on July 15, 2020. Her motto is “IN AERE TERRAM MARIQUE (in the air – on land – at sea)”
Both USS America and USS Tripoli are designated as Flight 0 of the America class. We shall discuss the Flight I variants in the concluding section of this article.
America-Class Amphibious Assault Ship Specifications
Displacement: 45,690 tons fully laden
Hull length: 257 meters (844 ft)
Beam Width: 32 meters (106 ft)
Draft: 7.9 meters (26 ft)
Propulsion:
2 x gas turbines (70000 bhp / 52000 kW)
2 x auxiliary propulsion engines (5000 hp / 3700 kW)
2 shafts, 2 propellers
Max Speed: 20+ knots (37+ km/h; 23 mph)
Crew Complement: 65 commissioned officers, 994 enlisted seamen, 1,687 Marines
Armament:
2 x Mk.29 launcher for 8 x RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM)
2 x Mk.49 launchers for RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM)
2 x Mk.15 Phalanx Close-in Weapon System (CIWS)
3 x Mk.38 Mod.2 25mm Machine Gun System (MGS)
Aircraft Carrying Capacity: 20-25
About That Aircraft Carrying Capacity
As we already mentioned in the beginning segment of this article, the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is one of the warbirds that the America-class can carry. More specifically, the F-35B USMC STOVL variant of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works 5th Generation stealth fighter. Given the somewhat limited range of the F-35 (a mere 760 nautical miles), the power projection boost that the Americas give to the fighter is pretty significant.
Operational History
Thus far, neither one of the actively serving America-class warships has actually been used in combat.
Still, they both certainly stand ready to answer the call and launch those F-35Bs in case a war were to break out in the Indo-Pacific region, whether against the People’s Republic of China (PRC) or the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK; better known as simply North Korea).
USS America is homeported at Naval Base San Diego, California, whilst Tripoli is on a long-term forward deployment to Sasebo, Japan.
Seaforces-online provides us with a convenient and concise deployment history of the two vessels.
USS America:
July 2014 – September 2014 with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force South (SPMAGTF South) embarked – Pascagoula to San Diego via Strait of Magellan
May 2015 – March 2016 – Post Shakedown Availability (PSA) at General Dynamics NASSCO, San Diego
June 2016 – August 2016 with VMM-161 embarked – exercise RIMPAC 2016 – around Hawaii
July 2017 – February 2018 with 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit – SOC (MEU/SOC) and VMM-161(REIN) embarked – Pacific Ocean, 5th Fleet AOR
November 13, 2019 – December 6, 2019 – homeport change from San Diego to Sasebo, Japan
The deployments from Sasebo from 2019 to 2025 have been omitted herein for the sake of brevity. In February 2025, it was announced that USS America would be returning to Naval Base San Diego later in that calendar year.
USS Tripoli:
July 2020 – September 2020 with HSC-14 (Det) embarked – Pascagoula, Mississippi to San Diego, California via Strait of Magellan
May 2022 – November 2022 with 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit – SOC (MEU/SOC) and VMM-262(REIN) embarked – Pacific Ocean
March 2023 – March 2024: Selected Restricted Availability (SRA) at BAE Systems, San Diego, California
May 19, 2025 – June 23, 2025: homeport change from Naval Base San Diego, California to Fleet Activities Sasebo, Japan
The Way Ahead for the Americas
A grand total of 11 Americas has been planned (including the two already in active service). Three Flight I ships of the America class are in the works:
–USS Bougainville (LHA-8); laid down March 14, 2019, launched October 6, 2023, currently fitting out with commissioning planned sometime in 2026
—USS Fallujah (LHA-9); laid down on September 20, 2023, still under construction
–USS Helmand Province (LHA-10); officially authorized, awaiting her keel-laying
About the Author: Christian D. Orr, Defense Expert
Christian D. Orr is a Senior Defense Editor. He is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He is also the author of the newly published book “Five Decades of a Fabulous Firearm: Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Beretta 92 Pistol Series.”
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