America - class amphibious assault ship The " America " - class amphibious assault ship s ( formerly the " LHA ( R ) " class ) of the U . S . Navy was designed to put ashore a Marine Expeditionary Unit using helicopters and MV - 22B Osprey V / STOL s , supported by AV - 8B Harrier or F - 35 Lightning II V / STOL fighter plane s and various attack helicopters . The first of these warship s should be delivered to the U . S . Navy in 2013 to replace the of the " Tarawa " - class amphibious assault ship s . The design of the " America " class was based on that of the , the last ship of the " Wasp " class , but the " Flight 0 " ships of the " America " class will not have well deck s , and they have smaller on - board hospitals in order to give more space for aviation uses . Although they only carry helicopters and V / STOL aircraft , the USS " America " with a displacement of about 45 , 000 long tons is similar in size to the fixed wing aircraft carrier s of France and India . The " America " can be used as a small aircraft carrier with a squadron of jet fighters plus several multipurpose helicopters , such as the SH - 60 Seahawk . She can carry about 20 AV - 8B Harrier s , F - 35Bs , or a mixture of the two , but the future ships of this class , starting with LHA - 8 will have smaller aircraft hangars to leave room for smaller than usual amphibious warfare well deck s . Design . The design of the USS " America " is based on the USS " Makin Island " ( LHD - 8 ) , herself an improved version of the " Wasp " - class amphibious assault ship s with gas turbine power . About 45 percent of the " Flight 0 " design of this class is based on that of the " Makin Island " , but with her well deck omitted to allow more room for aircraft , their spare parts and weapons , and their fuel . Note that the gas turbines of the " Makin Island " , the " America " , and her possible successors burn the same kind of fuel ( JP - 5 ) that is burned in the gas turbines of their helicopter s , the jet engines of their AV - 8B Harrier fixed - wing attack planes , the engines of the MV - 22 Osprey aircraft that they can carry , and ( in future ships ) , the gas turbines of the Landing Craft Air Cushion s ( LCACs ) that they could carry in their well decks . All of this greatly simplifies the storage , distribution , and use of the fuels for these craft . The typical aircraft complement for the first two vessels is expected to be 12 MV - 22B Osprey transports , six STOVL F - 35B Lightning II multirole jet aircraft , four CH - 53K heavy transport helicopters , seven AH - 1Z / UH - 1Y attack helicopters , and two Navy MH - 60S " Knighthawks " for air - sea rescue . The exact make - up of the ship ' s aircraft complements will vary according to her mission . She can carry about 20 AV - 8Bs or F - 35Bs , and two MH - 60Ses to serve as a small aircraft carrier as demonstrated by Landing Helicopter Dock ( LHD ) operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom . Any further warship s in this class will also have a well deck for amphibious warfare in their sterns to contain landing craft ( such as the Landing Craft Air Cushion ( LCAC ) exactly as in the " Tarawa " - class amphibious assault ship s ( LHA ) s and the " Wasp " - class amphibious assault ship s . The addition of a well deck will leave less space for aircraft on board the ships , but the " Early Operational Assessment " of 2005 criticized the " Flight 0 " design because the expanded aviation facilities gave no space for a well deck . Also , the USS " America " has reduced stowage space for military vehicles , and the size of her hospital was reduced by two - thirds with respect to the " Wasp " - class ships . Before he became the Under Secretary of the Navy , Robert O . Work , also brought into question the usefulness of an amphibious warfare ship without a well deck . The concept of the Landing Platform Helicopter ( LPH ) had failed when their helicopter s met antiaircraft systems off the coast of Lebanon during the late 1970s . In that case , Marines had to be moved first onto the warship s that had well decks . The U . S . Marine Corps is now more concerned about anti - ship missile attacks from fast attack craft , hence the Commandant of the Marine Corps wants to keep the amphibious ships farther offshore . In that case Marines would be sent ashore in long - ranged MV - 22 V / STOL aircraft . The MV - 22 is significantly larger than the largest helicopters used by the Marine Corps and the Navy in the past . Hence , the " America " has twice the displacement of the much older " Iwo Jima " - class amphibious assault ship s ( all of which are now decommissioned ) . Setting the beam of the " America " at 106 feet is dictated by the need for these ships to pass through the Panama Canal . The Congressional Budget Office found that LH ( X ) - class ships would be more cost - effective if they were built with nuclear power — if the price of oil reached and stayed above $ 140 per barrel by 2040 . A modified version of the design of the USS " America " , designated the MPF ( F ) , LHA ( R ) , or T - LHA ( R ) , was proposed for two ships of the Maritime Prepositioning Force ( Future ) . The MPF ( F ) is the Navy ' s concept for a " sea base " to support operations ashore starting in about 2025 . These two ships would hypothetically be manned by a civilian crew from the Military Sealift Command , and hence not armed with weapons . Funding for the MPF ( F ) and the LHA ( R ) was tabled by the Senate Armed Services Committee in the fiscal year 2008 budget . The U . S . Navy now intends to buy more ships of the " America " class for its fleet of amphibious warfare ships . The so - called " LHX " was a warship that was proposed in the late 1990s to replace the " Tarawa " - class ships , but with a dry deck for hovercraft rather than a floodable " well deck " . After the year 2000 , the LHX , the so - called " Amphibious Assault Ship Future Replacement " , was put forward to replace all of the LHDs . The new LHX could be a Flight 2 design of the " America " class built with a well deck and a smaller island superstructure , which would give it 20 percent more capacity on the flight deck . This would remove the current restriction on MV - 22s to land on spots 5 and 6 , and also giving room for four MV - 22B , three F - 35B Lightning II s , or three CH - 53Ks to use the flight deck . In 2008 , the procurement of Flight 2 ships was tentatively planned for 2024 , but that might not be practical or affordable by then . The " America " - class amphibious assault ships are engineered with a hybrid - electric propulsion system derived from the one used on the USS Makin Island ( LHD - 8 ) . The ships can use diesel - electric propulsion for slow speeds and use gas - turbines for high speeds . The amphibious ships can utilize the diesel - electric engines when operating close to shores in situations that require lower speeds . History . The program started in July 2001 , with development beginning in October 2005 , the production decision was made in January 2006 , and construction of LHA - 6 began in December 2008 . The keel - laying ceremony was on 17 July 2009 with delivery originally planned for August 2012 . As of 2009 delivery was planned for February 2013 and initial capability for February 2014 , but delivery has now been further delayed into FY2014 . Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding was awarded $ 48 . 1m for " additional planning and advanced engineering services in support of the LHA replacement ( LHA [ R ] ) Flight 0 amphibious assault ship ( LHA 7 ) " on 28 October 2010 , to run until May 2012 . It is tentatively scheduled for delivery in 2017 . In January 2011 development problems led to the F - 35B program being placed on probation for two years , and plans for LHA - 7 could change if the F - 35B is canceled . In April 2012 Contract N00024 - 10 - C - 2229 was issued to Huntington Ingalls Industries , in which funding for steel plate purchase for LHA - 7 is planned , and announced requirement for additional four ships ( to LHA - 10 ) . LHA - 7 will be laid down in April 2013 and her commission is planned in 2018 . Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced May 4 the selection of USS " Tripoli " as the name for the Navy ' s next large - deck amphibious assault ship ( LHA - 7 ) .