Leaving Portsmouth harbour. 6-03-08

USS Mount Whitney (LCC/JCC 20), a Blue Ridge class command ship


Career
Ordered: 10 August 1966 Laid down: 8 January 1969 Launched: 8 January 1970 Commissioned: 16 January 1971 Status: Active in service as of 2008 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"