Wasp-class amphibious assault ship

The LHDs can support amphibious landings in two forms: by landing craft and by helicopter.[8] In the 266-by-50-foot (81 by 15.2 m) by 28-foot (8.5 m) high well deck,[2] the LHDs can carry three Landing Craft Air Cushion, twelve Landing Craft Mechanised, or 40 Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAVs), with another 21 AAVs on the vehicle deck.[8] The flight deck has nine helicopter landing spots and can operate helicopters and tiltrotors as large as the Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion and MV-22B Osprey.[8] The size of the air combat element varies depending on the operation: a standard air combat element consists of six Harriers or six F-35B Lightning IIs and four AH-1W/Z Super Cobra/Viper attack helicopters for attack and support, twelve Ospreys and four Super Stallions for transport, and three or four Bell UH-1Y Venom utility helicopters.[10][8] For a full assault, the air group can have a maximum of 22 Ospreys, while a Wasp operating in the sea control or "Harrier carrier" or "Lightning carrier" configuration carries 20 AV-8Bs or F-35Bs (though some ships of the class have operated as many as 24 Harriers), supported by 6 Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk helicopters for anti-submarine warfare.[10][8] Two aircraft elevators move aircraft between the flight deck and the hangar; in order to transit the Panama Canal, these elevators need to be folded in.[8]

USS Essex performing a stern gate mating with a landing craft

Each ship is capable of hosting 1,894 personnel of the United States Marine Corps; almost the full strength of a marine expeditionary unit (MEU).[8] A Wasp-class vessel can transport up to 30,800 square feet (2,860 m²) of cargo, and another 20,000 square feet (1,858 m²) is allocated for the MEU's vehicles, which typically include 5 M1 Abrams battle tanks, up to 25 AAVs, 8 M198 howitzers, 68 trucks, and up to 12 other support vehicles.[8] A six-track internal monorail system and six 12,000-pound (5,400 kg) internal elevators are used to shift cargo from the cargo holds to landing craft in the well deck.[2][8]

Each Wasp-class ship has a hospital with 64 patient beds and 6 operating rooms. An additional 536 beds can be set up in an overflow casualty ward as needed.[8][11]

Air traffic control aboard the USS Wasp

The armament of the first four Wasp class consists of two Mark 29 octuple launchers for RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missiles, two Mark 49 launchers for RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles, three 20 mm Phalanx CIWSs, four 25 mm Mark 38 chain gun systems, and four .50 caliber machine guns.[8] The next four ships, Bataan, Bonhomme Richard, Iwo Jima, and Makin Island, have a slightly reduced weapons outfit compared to their preceding sister ships, with one Phalanx and one Mark 38 gun removed.[8]

Countermeasures fitted to the ships include four to six Mark 36 SRBOC chaff and decoy launchers, an AN/SLQ-25 torpedo decoy, AN/SLQ-49 chaff buoys, a Sea Gnat missile decoy, and an AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite.[8]

The sensor suite fitted to each ship comprises an AN/SPS-48 or AN/SPS-52 air-search radar backed up by an AN/SPS-49 air-search radar, an SPS-67 surface search radar, an AN/URN-25 TACAN system, along with several additional radars for navigation and fire control.[8]

• Bishop, Chris; Chant, Christopher (2004). Aircraft Carriers: The World's Greatest Naval Vessels and Their Aircraft. London: MBI. ISBN 0-7603-2005-5. OCLC 56646560.