Amphibious Assault Ship (LHA/LHD)

The largest amphibious warfare ships, resembling small aircraft carriers with a full-length flight deck for helicopters and STOVL aircraft such as the F-35B and MV-22 Osprey. The US hull symbols are LHA (landing helicopter assault) and LHD (landing helicopter dock). LHDs (Wasp class) carry a well deck for landing craft; the first two America-class LHAs (LHA-6, LHA-7) deleted the well deck to expand aviation capacity, restored from LHA-8 (Bougainville). Full-load displacement runs near 45,000 tons, larger than many nations’ carriers.