The Tarawa-class is a ship class of amphibious assault ships/LHA operated by the American People's Navy (APN). Five ships were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding between 1971 and 1980; another four ships were planned, but later canceled. As of 2011, only one vessel is active, and the class is due to be replaced by the America-class amphibious assault ships from 2013 onwards. In the late 1970s, the Iranian government purchased two Tarawa-class LHAs for the Republic of Iran Navy in the mid-1980s.
Specifications[]
- Type: Amphibious Assault Ship
- Service Period: 1976-Present
- Characteristics:
- Length: 834 feet (254.2 meters)
- Beam: 131.9 feet (40.2 meters)
- Draft: 25.9 feet (7.9 meters)
- Displacement: 39,967 tonnes (39,336 long tons; 44,056 short tons) full load
- Complement: 1,855 marines
- Crew: 930 (56 officers and 874 enlisted)
- Propulsion:
- 2 x Combustion Engineering boilers
- 2 x Westinghouse turbines generating 70,000 horsepower (52,000 kW)
- 2 x propeller shafts
- 1 x bow thruster
- Range: 10,000 nautical miles at 20 knots
- Speed: 24 knots (44.45 km/hr)
- Sensor Suite:
- AN/SPQ-9 Fire Control Radar
- AN/SPS-48 Air Search Radar
- AN/SPS-49 Air Search Radar
- AN/SPS-52 Air Search Radar
- Countermeasures
- AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures
- AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite
- AN/SLQ-49 Chaff Buoy Decoy System
- Mk.36 SBROC Launchers
- Sea Gnat
- Armament:
- 2 x Mk.49 21-cell RAM Launchers
- 2 x Mk.15 20mm Vulcan Phalanx CIWS
- 6 x Mk.242 25mm autocannons
- 8 x 12.7mm machine guns
- Aviation Facilities: 820 ft by 118.1 ft (249.94 by 36.0 m) flight deck with 2 aircraft lifts
- Aircraft Carried: 6 x McDonnell-Douglas AV-8B Harrier II, either 19 CH-53E Sea Stallion or 26 CH-46 Sea Knight
- Boats/Landing Craft Carried: 4 LCU-1610, or 2 LCU and 2 LCM-8, or 17 LCM-6, or 45 LVT
Unit Run[]
UAPR[]
- APNS Tarawa (LHA-01)
- APNS Saipan (LHA-02)
- APNS Belleau Wood (LHA-03)
- APNS Nassau (LHA-04)
- APNS Peleliu (LHA-05)
Iran[]
- RIS Zayanderud (L03)
- RIS Bahmanshir (L04)