AGAIN EN ROUTE TO BLACK SEA, 30.10.2008

Considered by some to be the most sophisticated Command, Control, Communications, Computer, and Intelligence (C4I) ship ever commissioned, Mount Whitney incorporates various elements of the most advanced C4I equipment and gives the embarked Joint Task Force Commander the capability to effectively command all units under the command of the Commander, Joint Task Force.

Commissioned: 16 January 1971
Status: Active in service as of 2008
Homeport: Gaeta, Italy
General characteristics
Displacement: 18,400 tons full load
Length: 189 metres (620.1 ft)
Beam: 33 metres (108.3 ft)
Draft: 906.78 centimetres (29.8 ft) full load
Propulsion: Two boilers, one geared turbine
Speed: 43 kilometres per hour (23 kn)
Total crew accommodations: 930 men and women
Ship's Complement: 170 U.S. Navy officers and enlisted men; and 155 Military Sealift Command civilian sailors
Armament: Two Phalanx CIWS
Two 25 mm Bushmaster cannons
Four .50 cal. Machine guns,
Defensive decoys: Mark 36 SRBOC chaff rockets
Aircraft: One Helicopter, currently usually a SH-60 Knight Hawk.