USS America (LHA 6), the U.S. Navy’s newest amphibious assault ship, arrived pierside in San Francisco Tuesday for Fleet Week in preparation for its commissioning ceremony on Saturday, Oct- 11.

The USS America, the fourth Navy ship bearing the name, is the first of a new class of amphibious assault ships. Her mission will be to embark, transport, control, insert, sustain and extract elements of a U.S. Marine Corps air-ground task force and support forces by the next generation of aircraft, the MV-22 Osprey and F-35B Joint Strike Fighters.

USS America is big: 844 feet in length, 106 feet wide, sitting 26 feet deep in the ocean. Her displacement fully loaded will be 45,700 metric tons (about 51,180 US tons).

The ship recently completed its maiden transit, “America Visits the Americas,” where the crew engaged in cooperative maritime security operations with Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Trinidad and Tobago, Chile, El Salvador and Peru.

During Fleet Week, America Sailors are scheduled to participate in several community outreach events at various local schools and at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

The public may tour USS America at Pier 30/32, San Francisco Wednesday October 8: 1 p.m. – 4 p.m., Thursday Oct. 9: 1 p.m. – 4 p.m., Sunday Oct. 12: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m., and Monday, Oct. 13: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.

There are no Public Tours on Friday Oct. 10. Saturday Oct. 11: noon – 4 p.m. is for Commissioning Ceremony attendees; admission to the ceremony by ticket only.

These times are subject to change.

For information on USS America, visit www.public.navy.mil/surfor/lha6/Pages/default.aspx

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