USS Saipan LHA-2
Amphibious Assault Ship (General Purpose)
Tarawa Class
Builders: Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Miss.
Power Plant: Two boilers, two geared steam turbines, two shafts, 70,000
total shaft horsepower
Length: 820 feet (249.9 meters)
Beam: 106 feet (31.8 meters)
Displacement: 39,400 tons (40,032 metric tons) full load
Speed: 24 knots (27.6 miles per hour)
Aircraft: (Actual mix depends upon mission)
Nine CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters
Twelve CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters
Six AV-8B Harrier attack planes
Crew: Ships Company: 82 officers, 882 enlisted
an embarked Marine Expeditionary Unit of 1,900 plus
Armament: Two RAM launchers; two Phalanx 20 mm CIWS mount; four 25 mm Mk
38 machine guns; five .50 caliber guns;
Commissioned: May 29, 1976
An island in
the Marianas; the site of the initial
Allied landings in that group on 15
June 1944. After bitter
fighting ashore and at sea, the island was secured
in mid-July and developed into an Allied air
base.
The
second Saipan (LHA-2) was laid down on 21
July 1972 by the Ingalls
Shipbuilding Division, Litton
Industries, Pascagoula, Miss.; launched on 20 July 1974; sponsored by Mrs.
J. William Middendorf II, wife of Secretary of the Navy Middendorf.
Commissioning of the amphibious assault ship is scheduled to
take place in September 1975.
