USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)
|
|
| Missing image USS_blueridge.jpg USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) | |
| Career | 
|
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 31 Dec 1964 |
| Laid down: | 27 Feb 1967 |
| Launched: | 04 Jan 1969 |
| Commissioned: | 14 Nov 1970 |
| Fate: | Template:Active in service |
| Homeport: | Yokosuka, Japan |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 19,609 tons |
| Length: | 636.5 ft (194 m) |
| Beam: | 108 ft (32.9 m) |
| Draft: | 26.9 ft (8.8 m) |
| Propulsion: | Two boilers, one geared turbine |
| Speed: | 23 knots |
| Range: | |
| Complement: | Crew: 52 Officer, 790 Enlisted; With Command Staff: 268 Officers, 1173 Enlisted |
| Armament: | Two 20 mm Phalanx CIWS, 50 cal machine guns, 25 mm guns |
| Aircraft: | UH-3H Sea King Helicopter |
| Motto: | Finest in the Fleet |
The second USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) is the lead ship of the Blue Ridge-class of command ships of the United States Navy, named after the Blue Ridge Mountains, a series of ranges in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern US.
The ship was commissioned on November 14, 1970, at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard as a command and control platform for the Navy. With accommodations for more than 200 officers and 1200 enlisted, the ship provides all the services of a small town.
From 1971 until 1979, Blue Ridge operated from San Diego, California, where she deployed to the Western Pacific, earning the Meritorious Unit and Navy Unit Commendations for the evacuation of Saigon, Vietnam in 1975.
Since October 1979, Blue Ridge has been forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan as the flagship of Commander Seventh Fleet. Blue Ridge participates routinely in U.S. and allied training exercise each year with countries throughout the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean. She performed a nine-and-one-half month deployment as flagship for Commander United States Naval Forces Central Command during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm from August 1990 through May 1991, for which the ship earned another Navy Unit Commendation.
Blue Ridge frequently makes port calls throughout the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean including Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia. She made her historic port visit to Shanghai, People's Republic of China in 1989 and again in 2004. It also visited Vladivostok, Russia in 1996 and 2003. The ship has also been cited for rescues of refugees and merchant vessels.
See USS Blue Ridge for other ships of this name.
This article includes text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
External links
- USS Blue Ridge official Web site (http://www.blue-ridge.navy.mil/)
| Blue Ridge-class command ship |
| Blue Ridge | Mount Whitney |
| List of amphibious assault ships of the United States Navy |