Pity though that until the F-35 arrives her airwing won’t really be worth it’s salt.

yeah, because a hypothetical CVN-78 air wing in 2015 consisting of 2 squads of hornets, 2 squads of super hornets, 4 growlers, 4 hawkeyes, a couple greyhounds, and a half dozen or so seahawks is so woefully inadequate compared against the air wings that the carriers of other world navies will be able to put to sea at that time.

i don’t think there’s a huge problem with naming naval vessels to honor important political figures, i just think it’d be a good idea to have a 100 year moratorium after a given politician has served in office such that a proper historical perspective is gained that will afford insight into whether such an honor is truly deserved. i take much, much less exception with the USS George Washington and USS Abraham Lincoln than i do with the USS Ronald Reagan and USS George H. W. Bush. Reagan and Bush may prove one day to be worthy of having a capital ship of the navy named after them, but a decade or two is not nearly long enough to know if their accomplishments as politicians warrant that honor.

^^ xtr970, thanks for the info regarding japan’s new 22DDH.

so is it safe to say that proper construction of 22DDH has begun now?

poking around, i just discovered that the USS Nassau LHA-4 was decommissioned at the end of march. that leaves only 9 active LHD/LHA ships in the USN. i had always thought the plan was to maintain 10 gators in active service and retire LHA-4 when the USS america LHA-6 joined the fleet, but i guess i was wrong. i suppose they will now hang on to the last tarawa class boat, the USS peleliu LHA-5, until america is commissioned. or will they further reduce the gators to just the 8 wasp ships before the america class ships start coming in?

^ you’re right. i’ll leave the date open for now.

Hyuuga & Ise aren’t amphibious warfare ships. They’re ASW helicopter carriers.

true. they’re somewhat in a category by themselves these days. i’ll change that.

Japan also has three Oosumi-class amphibious ships, classed as LSTs but with through decks: Oosumi, Shimokita & Kunisaki – ca 13000 tons.

Italy has has three Santi amphibious ships, classed as LPDs but with through decks: San Giorgio, San Marco & San Giusto – ca 8000 tons.

“not included are smaller amphib flat tops like italy’s san giorgios and japan’s osumis because, while they can certainly land and store helicopters on their open decks, they do not have dedicated hanger space to properly operate and maintain a fleet of aircraft.”