Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship

USS Saipan during Expeditionary Strike Group integration training in 2004
Class overview
Name	Tarawa class
Builders	Ingalls Shipbuilding
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	Iwo Jima class
Succeeded by	Wasp class
Built	15 November 1971 – 3 May 1980
In commission	29 May 1976 – 31 March 2015
Planned	9
Completed	5
Cancelled	4
Retired	5
General characteristics
Class and type	Amphibious assault ship/LHA
Displacement	39,967 tonnes (39,336 long tons; 44,056 short tons) full load
Length	834 feet (254 m)
Beam	131.9 feet (40.2 m)
Draft	25.9 feet (7.9 m)
Propulsion	2 × Combustion Engineering boilers 2 × Westinghouse turbines 70,000 horsepower (52,000 kW) 2 × propeller shafts 1 × bow thruster
Speed	24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph)
Range	10,000 nautical miles (19,000 km; 12,000 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried	4 × LCU 1610 Or two LCU and two LCM-8 Or 17 LCM-6 Or 45 AAVP
Troops	1,703
Complement	56 officers, 874 sailors (1998)
Armament	As of 1998: Mark 49 RAM missile system 2 × Vulcan Phalanx 6 × 25 mm automatic cannons 8 × 12.7 mm machine guns Previous weapons: 2 × 8 cell MK- 25 NATO Sea Sparrow BPDMS launchers (replaced by Phalanx units) 3 × 5-inch (127 mm) Mk 45 lightweight guns (deleted 1997–1998)
Aircraft carried	Up to 19 Sea Stallions, 26 Sea Knights, or mixed airgroup 6 Harrier jump-jets
Aviation facilities	820-by-118.1-foot (249.9 by 36.0 m) flight deck with 2 aircraft lifts

The Tarawa class is a ship class of Landing Helicopter Assault (LHA) type amphibious assault ships operated by the United States Navy (USN). Five ships were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding between 1971 and 1980; another four ships were planned, but later canceled; instead they were joined by the Wasp-class amphibious assault ships.

As of March 2015^[update], all vessels had been decommissioned. The Tarawa class were replaced by the America-class amphibious assault ships from 2014 onward while the Wasp class remains in service.