Fleet Week '06 - USS Kearsarge (LHD-3)
05/26/06
in New York City - Manhattan
I was surprised to find that the USS Kearsarge, an amphibious assault ship, is the same length as the USS Intrepid, the museum that sits one pier to the south. The massiveness of the ship means that it can pretty much do everything and, since its launch in 1993, it has. It was a part of operation Iraqi Freedom but has also taken part in the Kosovo conflict and Turkey earthquake relief operations.
It carries the following:
- 42 CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters
- 5 AV-8 Harrier II "Jump-Jets"
- 6 ASW helicopters
- 3 air cushion landing craft (LCAC)
The only parts of the ship that I saw were the flight deck and the hangar bay. Everything else was closed to the public. The ship seemed a bit empty - there were no Harriers onboard that I could see and they only had a few helicopters on deck, which are visible in the photos.
Sources: Wikipedia, Globalsecurity, U.S. Navy
