The future amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) departed Valparaiso, Chile after a scheduled three-day port visit, Aug. 27.
This was the crew’s fourth stop on the ship’s maiden transit, “America Visits the Americas” from Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, to its homeport of San Diego. Since the ship departed, the crew has also made port visits to Cartagena, Colombia; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and hosted distinguished guests from Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay on board.
While in Chile, the ship hosted a reception in the ship’s hangar bay for more than 300 guests.
Distinguished guests included U.S. Ambassador to Chile, Michael Hammer; Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr.; and numerous senior Chilean, U.S. government and military officials.
America is the first ship of its class, replacing the Tawara-class of amphibious assault ships. As the next generation “big-deck” amphibious ship, America is optimized for aviation, capable of supporting current and future aircraft such as the tilt-rotor MV-22 Osprey and F-35B Joint Strike Fighter. The ship is scheduled to be ceremoniously commissioned Oct. 11 in San Francisco.