page_title: Landing platform helicopter
section_title: United States Navy
hierarchical_section_title: Landing platform helicopter / Ships classified as LPH / United States Navy
caption_attribution_description: The U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Okinawa (LPH-3) underway in the Persian Gulf in 1987.
context_page_description: Landing platform helicopter is a term used by some navies to denote a type of amphibious warfare ship designed primarily to operate as a launch and recovery platform for helicopters and other VTOL aircraft. As such, they are considered a type of helicopter carrier.
  Under the NATO Standardization Agreement document for reporting vessels, LPH is a short form designator used for "Amphibious Assault Ship, Helicopter" defined as a "large helicopter carrier" for carrying and deploying around 1,800 assault troops using its own aircraft, but for which use of landing craft is "not a principal function". For ships of this hull classification in the Royal Navy, LPH is a direct acronym for "Landing Platform Helicopter", while the United States Navy referred to its vessels within this classification as "amphibious assault ships". The etymology is L for amphibious, P for transport, and H for helicopter. Regardless of the terminology, all vessels classified as an LPH possess essentially similar capabilities.
  The Royal Navy also used the term "Commando Carrier", which it applied to aircraft carriers converted to helicopter only operations.
context_section_description: USS Block Island (LPH-1) (formerly CVE-106) – Commencement Bay-class escort carrier – Conversion to LPH cancelled -Scrapped
  USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) – Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship – First ship to be designed and built from the keel up as an amphibious assault ship - Scrapped
  USS Okinawa (LPH-3) – Iwo Jima class - Sunk in SINKEX
  USS Boxer (LPH-4) (ex CV-21) – Converted straight deck Essex-class aircraft carrier - Scrapped
  USS  Princeton (LPH-5) (ex CV-37) – Converted straight deck Essex-class aircraft carrier - Scrapped
  USS Thetis Bay (LPH-6) (ex CVE-90, ex CVHA-1) – Minimal conversion of a Casablanca-class escort carrier - Scrapped
  USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) – Iwo Jima class - Sunk in SINKEX
  USS Valley Forge (LPH-8) (ex CV-45) – Converted straight deck Essex-class aircraft carrier - Scrapped
  USS Guam (LPH-9) – Iwo Jima class - Sunk in SINKEX
  USS Tripoli (LPH-10) – Iwo Jima class – Scrapped
  USS New Orleans (LPH-11) – Iwo Jima class - Sunk in SINKEX off of the coast of Oahu, Hawaii.
  USS Inchon (LPH-12) – Iwo Jima class - Stricken from the list and sunk east of Virginia Beach, Virginia on 5 December 2004.
caption: USS Okinawa, a former U.S. LPH, in the Persian Gulf.
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