Blue Ridge class command ship,
Ordered: 10 August 1966
Laid down: 8 January 1969
Launched: 8 January 1970
Commissioned: 16 January 1971
Status: Active in service as of 2007
Homeport: Gaeta, Italy
General Characteristics
Displacement: 18,400 tons full load
Length: 620 ft (189 m)
Beam: 108 ft (33 m)
Draft: 29 ft, 9 inches full load
Propulsion: Two boilers, one geared turbine
Speed: 23 knots (43 km/h)
Total crew accommodations: 930 people including embarked staff
Ship Complement: 170 U.S. Navy personnel (officer and enlisted) and 155 Military Sealift Command personnel (civilian mariners)
Armament: Super RBOC chaff rockets,
2 × 25 mm Bushmaster guns,
4 × .50 cal. Machine guns,
2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS
Aircraft: Any Helicopter smaller than the CH-53 Sea Stallion, usually a CH-60S Knight Hawk.
Motto: "Teamwork, Brilliance, Victory"