Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship  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.  , all vessels had been decommissioned. The Tarawa class were replaced by the s from 2014 onward while the Wasp class remains in service. The vessels have a full load displacement of . Each ship is long, with a beam of , and a draft of . Propulsion is provided by two Combustion Engineering boilers, connected to two Westinghouse turbines. These supply to the ship's two propeller shafts. A "Tarawa"-class vessel can reach a maximum speed of , and has a maximum range of at . In addition to the main propulsion system, the ships are fitted with a bow thruster. As of 1998, the ships' armament consisted of a Mark 49 RAM surface-to-air missile system, two Vulcan Phalanx close-in weapons systems, six Mark 242 25 mm automatic cannons, and eight 12.7 mm machine guns. Previously, the amphibious warships were fitted with 2 Mark 25 Sea Sparrow missile systems (which were replaced by the Phalanx units), and three 5-inch (127 mm) Mk 45 lightweight guns in bow and starboard aft sponsons (the guns were removed across the class during 1997 and 1998). Countermeasures and decoys include four Mark 36 SRBOC launchers, a SLQ-25 Nixie towed torpedo decoy, a Sea Gnat unit, SLQ-49 chaff decoys. The number of helicopters carried by each vessel was up to 19 Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallions, 26 Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight, or a mix of the two. The flight deck is fitted with two aircraft lifts, and up to nine Sea Stallions or 12 Sea Knights can be operated simultaneously. With a small amount of modification, the ships could carry and operate up to six McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II jump-jets. The "Tarawa"-class ships are designed to embark a reinforced battalion of the United States Marine Corps and their equipment. Onboard accommodation is provided for up to 1,703 marines, while is provided for the battalion's vehicles, and is allocated for stores and other equipment.