Quote:
Originally Posted by Go2gtr
Well to be precise:
USS Bataan (LHD-5) is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship.
It is not an aircraft carrier like the USS Yorktown the other ship that was used that night and had the Ohio State vs. Marquette game cancelled.
The flight deck on the Bataan is only used for helicopters. |
An amphibious assault ship is a "carrier." I did not say it was a carrier like the Yorktown, but it is technically an aircraft carrier. An "amphibious assault ship" is also known as a "commando carrier" or an "amphibious assault carrier." It is not, however, a battleship.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibious_assault_ship
There are only 31 aircraft carriers in in the world, and 20 of those are US NAVY carriers (10 Nimitz class carriers, 1 Enterprise carrier, 9 Amphibious Assault carriers). The Bataan is one of those 20. It is sometimes classified among the STOVL carriers or "short take off vertical landing" (1 of the 3 common classifications, CATOBAR, STOBAR, STOVL).
You are also technically wrong about the flight deck. It has been used for years in the middle east as a "Harrier Carrier" for Marine Corps Harrier II squadrons, and has also hosted the Osprey "tiltrotor" vessels - neither of which is a helicopter.
