Command ships serve as the flagships of the commander of a fleet. They provide communications, office space, and accommodations for a fleet commander and his staff, and serve to coordinate fleet activities.
An auxiliary command ship features the command and control components prevalent on landing ships (command) and also feature the capability to land troops and equipment. These forces will be slightly less than on a pure landing ship due to the nature of the ship as a command vessel and hence will also house the assault commander, the flotilla commander or someone of similar status (generally of NATO OF-9 or OF-10 rank - such as a vice admiral or major general).
Currently, the United States Navy operates two command ships, USS Blue Ridge and USS Mount Whitney, both of the purpose-built Blue Ridge class. The USS La Salle was decommissioned in March, 2005 and sunk as target in support of fleet training exercise, 11 April 2007. The USS Coronado was decommissioned and sunk as part of live-fire exercise Valiant Shield 2012.
Famous quotes containing the words command and/or ship:
“By his command these words are cut:
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman, pass by!”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“It is said that a carpenter building a summer hotel here ... declared that one very clear day he picked out a ship coming into Portland Harbor and could distinctly see that its cargo was West Indian rum. A county historian avers that it was probably an optical delusion, the result of looking so often through a glass in common use in those days.”
—For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)