USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)

Career
Ordered:	31 Dec 1964
Laid down:	27 Feb 1967
Launched:	04 Jan 1969
Commissioned:	14 Nov 1970
Fate:	on active service
Homeport:	Yokosuka, Japan
General Characteristics
Displacement:	19,609 tons
Length:	636,5 ft (194 m)
Beam:	108 ft (32.9 m)
Draught:	26,9 ft (8.8 m)
Propulsion:	Two boilers, one geared turbine
Speed:	23 knots
Range:
Complement:	Crew: 52 Officer, 790 Enlisted; With Command Staff: 268 Officers, 1173 Enlisted
Armament:	Two 20mm Phalanx CIWS, 50 cal machine guns, 25mm guns
Aircraft:	UH-3H Sea King Helicopter
Motto:	Finest in the Fleet

The second USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) is the lead ship of the Blue Ridge class of command ships of the United States Navy, named after the Blue Ridge Mountains, a series of ranges in the Appalachian Mountains of the easter US.

The ship was commissioned on November 14, 1970, at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard as a command and control platform for the Navy. With accommodations for more than 200 officers and 1200 enlisted, the ship provides all the services of a small town.

From 1971 until 1979, Blue Ridge operated from San Diego, California, where she deployed to the Western Pacific, earning the Meritorious Unit and Navy Unit Commendations for the evacuation of Saigon, Vietnam in 1975.

Since October 1979, Blue Ridge has been forward deployed from Yokosuka, Japan as the flagship of Commander Seventh Fleet. Blue Ridge participates routinely in U.S. and allied training exercise each year with countries throughout the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean. She performed a nine-and-one-half month deployment as flagship for Commander United States Naval Forces Central Command during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm from August 1990 through May 1991, for which the ship earned another Navy Unit Commendation.

Blue Ridge frequently makes port calls throughout the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean including Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Australia. She made her historic port visit to Shanghai, People Republic of China in May 1989 and Vladivostok, Russia in July 1996. The ship has also been cited for rescues of refugees and merchant vessels.

See USS Blue Ridge for other ships of this name.

This article includes information collected from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links

• USS Blue Ridge official Web site

Blue Ridge-class command ship

Blue Ridge | Mount Whitney

List of amphibious assault ships of the United States Navy