If you thought that these two types of ships were the same, don't worry: it's a common thing! Though, aircraft carriers and assault ships have some differences that are easy to be noticed.
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What are Amphibious Assault Ships
Amphibious Assault Ships are designed to support land forces on enemy areas for amphibious assaults. Although there are some ships of this kind that can carry and deploy aircraft, that's why they are partially carriers.
But, essentially, the role of the amphibious assault ships differs from the role of aircraft carriers. The decks and the substructures of the first ships are mainly designed for helicopters and not aircraft. Although, there are some aircraft, like the Harrier or the F-35B, that are capable of deployment of amphibious assault ships. More aircraft with short-take of and vertical landing capabilities, hovercrafts, and some transport ships are also available options for some amphibious assault ships.
Most ships with big decks like helicopter carriers are called amphibious assault ships.
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The Powerful American class
Even if a lot of countries use amphibious assault ships, the US Navy owns the most advanced that was ever built, the American class. Huntington Ingalls Industries and Ingalls Shipbuilding Vision started to build the ships in 2008. In total, 11 vessels were ordered and as of today, two have already been fully operational. The first one started serving in 2014 and the second in 2021.
The exact ship type is landing helicopter assault. America class has a displacement of 44,971t in full load, a total length of 257m, and a height of 32m.
The ship can carry only helicopters and aircraft with capabilities of short take-off and vertical landing. It can carry up to 20-25 AV-8Bs, F-35Bs, or a combination of those two. Other options are the multi-purpose helicopter's MH-60 Seahawk. A standard configuration would be 12 MV-22B Osprey helicopters, 6 F-35BS, 4 CH-53K heavy transport helicopters, 7 AH-1Z/UH-1Y attack helicopters, and 2 Navy MH-60S Knighthawks for aerial rescues.
This configuration is impressively strong and one of the most dangerous available. America class features advanced systems, but its most important characteristic is the ability to carry and deploy such powerful aircraft. With such weapons on its deck, the amphibious assault ship can destroy any possible threat on land.
