Naval Analyses: PHOTO GALLERY #33: Mount Whitney, amphibious command ship of the United States Navy

Sunday, 31 May 2020

PHOTO GALLERY #33: Mount Whitney, amphibious command ship of the United States Navy

USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20), flagship of the the U.S. 6th Fleet

This is another photo gallery from my visit to Kiel in 2019, on the first weekend of the 137th Kiel Week. The Kiel Week (German: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The first weekend of the Kiel Week, the famous Naval Base of Kiel, opens its gates for just four hours per day, for thousands of tourists who are eager to visit the German Navy warships and dozens of foreign warships which visit the city of Kiel, to honor the Kiel Week. Among the visiting ships, was the U.S. 6th Fleet (Commander Vice Adm. Lisa Franchetti) Blue Ridge-class command and control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20). The ship is named for Mount Whitney, a peak in the Sierra Nevada mountain range of California. Mount Whitney is the highest summit in the contiguous United States, with an elevation of 14,505 feet (4,421 m).

USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20)

Emblem of the ship

The 193-metre USS Mount Whitney has a complement of 150 enlisted personnel as a crew, approximately 300 Navy staff and 12 officers and 150 Civilian Mariners from Military Sealift Command. She has accommodations for over 250 officers, 1,200 enlisted men and 100 enlisted females. Her displacement at full load exceeds the 19,000 tons and the maximum speed she can reach is about 23 knots. USS Mount Whitney was the first U.S. Navy combatant to permanently accommodate women on board. The ship carries enough food to feed the crew for 90 days and can transport supplies to support an emergency evacuation of 3,000 people. The ship makes 100,000 gallons of fresh water daily and carries over one million gallons of fuel, enough for a round trip, 16 knot, 35 day voyage from Norfolk, Virginia to Mozambique in the Indian Ocean. The ship's two anchors weigh 11 tons each and are attached to 180 fathoms (or 1,080 feet) of anchor chain. Each chain weighs almost 25 tons. The modular nature of the ship means that whatever computer gear a command needs can be brought onto the ship, and the ship just needs to be able to power those systems. Therefore, the total electrical capacity is 7,500 kilowatts, a sufficient amount to power a small city!

The navigation bridge with the mast. Note the old AN/SPS-10
surface search radar and the modern KH navigation radars

The ship's afloat communications capability is second to none. USS Mount Whitney can receive, process and transmit large amounts of secure data from any point on earth through HF, UHF, VHF, SHF, and EHF communications paths. This technology enables the Joint Intelligence Center and Joint Operations Center (JOC) to gather and fuse critical information while on the move. As the most sophisticated Command, Control, Communications, Computer, and Intelligence (C4I) ship ever commissioned, USS Mount Whitney incorporates various elements of the most advanced C4I equipment and gives the embarked Joint Task Force Commander the capability to effectively command widely dispersed air, ground and maritime units in an integrated fashion.

The "pagoda" fitted with various antennas

The armament of the ship was included initially also two Mark 25 octuple RIM-7 Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missile (SAM) launchers (also known as the Basic Point Defense Missile System (BPDMS)) and two Mark 33 twin 3"/50 gun mounts but these were removed in the early '90. The ship is currently armed with two Phalanx CIWS, two Typhoon 25mm RWS (Mk 38 Mod 2), numerous .50 cal (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, Mark 36 SRBOC decoy launchers, SLQ-32 EW systems and AN/SLQ-25 Nixie towed acoustic torpedo decoy system. Ship's flight deck is suitable for all helicopters; it carries usually 1-2 MH60 Knight Hawk helicopters.

MH60 Knight Hawk helicopter onboard

She is one of only a few commissioned ships to be assigned to Military Sealift Command and she is the second oldest ship in active commission (she commissioned on January 1971 thus she is 49 years old today!), and the Navy has tried multiple times without success to figure out what kind of replacement it wants for its pair of LCCs. Nevertheless, she is one of the few ships that still is operated on steam power and also having a single propeller. In 2015 the Navy put Mount Whitney into a maintenance availability meant to extend the ship’s life out to.. 2039 – which would put the ship at 68-years-old at decommissioning!

The front Phalanx CIWS in the latest configuration (B1B Baseline 2)

USS Mount Whitney also serves as the Afloat Command Platform (ACP) of Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO). The ship was one of the many others which made port visit in Kiel as part of annual joint, multinational maritime-focused Exercise Baltic Operations (BALTOPS). BALTOPS is the premier annual maritime-focused exercise in the Baltic Region, marking the 47th year of one of the largest exercises in Northern Europe enhancing flexibility and interoperability among allied and partnered nations. U.S. 2nd Fleet, commanded by Vice Adm. Andrew "Woody" Lewis, joined the Mount Whitney to lead BALTOPS on behalf of Naval Forces Europe, marking the first time the Fleet operated in the European theater. Combined Task Force 162, commanded by Rear Admiral Andrew Burns, OBE, commander of the United Kingdom Maritime Forces and deputy commander of the exercise, also embarked Mount Whitney. Additional representatives from Carrier Strike Group 2, Expeditionary Strike Group 2, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, and Naval Surface and Mine Warfighting Development Center were also aboard in support of BALTOPS 2019.

A glimpse at the JOC. Photo: US Navy

The fleet commander and his staff make use of the ship’s (super-secret!) large operations center, where they can monitor events, hold meetings and brief others via secured communications. It was forbidden to take any photos inside the ship with the exception of the bridge. Nevertheless, the tour was amazing! Enjoy the photos!