On board USS Whidbey Island
Welcome on board USS Whidbey Island
When the shuttle reaches the USS Whidbey Island, a panel on the footbridge to board the ship reads «First in Her Class, First Always».
History: In February 1981, the U. S. Navy awarded Lockheed Shipbuilding Company of Seattle, Washington, a contract to construct LSD 41, first of a new Dock Landing Ship class to replace the aging Thomaston-class LSDs. At 4 August 1981 keel-laying ceremony, the Honorable John F. Lehman, Secretary of the Navy, affixed his signature to the LSD 41 keel; the first keel of an amphibious assault ship lain in more than five years. Although the first ship to carry the name Whidbey Island, there was at one time a ship on Navy rolls named USS Whidbey (AG-141), a small transport purchased from the U. S. Army and servicing U. S. Trust Territories in the late 1940s.
Whidbey Island, the first ship in a class designed specifically to interface with the Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), assisted in the operational and developmental testing of the amphibious assault craft from July to September 1985 and again in May and July 1986.
Source : www.whidbey-island.navy.mil
Many thanks to the USS Whidbey Island crew and the US Navy for all their kindness and warm welcome on board on the occasion of the Independence Day ceremonies.
Whidbey Islands carries in her belly many tanks or all kind of heavy war material, like hovercrafts, that can be unloaded by a door at the back or lifted by her huge cranes. She bears many missiles and weapons to defend herself.
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