USS Tarawa (LHA 1) - Naval Cruise Book

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TARA A TR JUNE 19-Deployment begins JUNE 19-28-Enroute Adak, Alaska JUNE 29-JULY 3- AUG 6-13--COBRA GOLD '86 KERNEL POTLATCH '86 JULY 5-17-Enroute Subic Bay, R.P. JULY 18-29-Moored Subic Bay JULY so-AUG 5-Enroute Pattaya Beach, Thailand Y

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THE FIRST TARAWA USS TARAWA CLHA-19 is the second ship named in honor of the battle of TARAWA. The previous TARAWA CCV-407 was one of the Navy's potent new 97,000-ton aircraft carriers and sister ship of the ESSEX, YORKTOWN, SHANGRI-LA and PRINCETON. She served from 1945 until her decommissioning in 1960. First Navy ship so named, the TARAWA was built in Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, and launched in the Elizabeth River on May 19, 1945. In a speech at the launching of the TARAWA, Marine General Smith, who commanded the furious 76-hour fighting on Tarawa atoll, said: lt is eminently fitting that this great ship should be named for an operation which marked the turning point of the war in the Pacific and began a new era of amphibious warfare. The same battle flag that went ashore with the Marines at Tarawa on November 20, 1943, was presented to the new carrier. The colors, under which 786 Marine and Naval medical personnel died, were hauled down from a riven coconut palm on February 13, 1944, by a picked color guard of men who had taken part in the assault and who had come into the Marine Corps from all sections of the United States. The big carrier, although nominally a sister ship of the other Essex class carriers, was given improvements in design and equipment that set her apart. The vessel was 856 feet in overall length, 110 feet extreme beam and 24 feet draft. Fully loaded the TARAWA displaced more than 34,000 tons and was able to be driven at a top speed of more than 30 knots. The TARAWA carried 80 planes and was equipped to launch and land the first developed jet-propelled aircraft. To operate the ship, man and service the aircraft, the TARAWA carried approximately 9,500 men. Heavily armed, the TARAWA carried twin and single mount five-inch guns, quadruple 40 millimeter and twin Q0 millimeter anti-aircraft weapons. Profitting from the lessons learned in the Pacific carrier war, the ship had new improved facilities for the stowage of bombs and rockets.

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DIMENSIUNS Keel Laid Launched Commissioned Length Beam 15 NOV 71 1 DEC 73 29 MAY 76 820 ft 106 ft Displacement 40,000 tons 0 over 20 knots so K Max. Speed Officers X Men 800 0 K A Q jvc. L .jg 1414155 c.ck f x ' was QNX X fi L A i gli we W cc A xx X x WXXQ A .M c W N x X New if X edge . ,K . X . his A 5M .X x X - A A 1 Nixwczc , do f5e 541 Qal Mk45nGun XMBHHYS X d 51 4' Af-wiiwilc cy c 1 f Q K - Mlm . do 2 Bas1cMPo1nxt De,fense11Sgggssmiec:eSystems Xeee N 06 -20mmQMachinQXGunsecc cell' New QLQN ., X X i, K xc -K icy' x X L Q if YFTXX 1 1: X x xx f rff, 1 xkhk - - ,,,V - ,fx c.WsNRi.xcNs . W, N x K I i . X ww 115 wwf J1y'Mv NW c-XSSQ .L a--i . - V cw - A xw ccww,,.NNcNa- El' .544 N A ,,, f A 1 X . X s- Q civgkik