The USS Mount Whitney is a Blue Ridge Class Command ship of the US Navy. She came into Portsmouth earlier today.
The Mount Whitney previously served as the Headquarters ship of the US Fleet in the Mediterranean. She is currently the Flagship of the US Sixth Fleet and Joint Command Lisbon, a NATO Command. The Mount Whitney has served in various trouble spots around the world, including Haithi in 1994 an Iraq in 2003.
She weighs in at 18,400 tons fully loaded. She has a crew of 170 officers and men and 155 civilians, and also has capacity for 930 men. She is armed with two Phalanx Close in weapons systems for self-defence, as well as two 25mm cannons. She operates one helicopter, currently a SH-60 Knight Hawk.
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James, the design was based on our first class of purpose built helicopter carriers, the Iwo Jimas. These have given great service, not only as amphibs but also fleet flagships. Pretty old, not sure if they will be replaced.
Of course, a carrier on an amphib makes a good flagship! Command and control is obviously very communications centric so I suppose that there may be something to be said for a dedicated command platform.