Description:Ship 524
USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) is the lead ship of the two Blue Ridge-class command ships of the U.S. Navy, and is the command ship of the United States Seventh Fleet. Her primary role is to provide Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) support to the commander and staff of the United States Seventh Fleet. She is currently forward-deployed to US Navy Fleet Activities, Yokosuka, Japan and is the third Navy ship named after the Blue Ridge Mountains, a range of mountains in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States. Blue Ridge is currently the second oldest active ship in US service after Denver. <ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Blue_Ridge_(LCC-19)</ref>
The USS Mount Whitney (LCC/JCC 20) is a Blue Ridge class command ship of the US Navy; it is the flagship of the Sixth Fleet. She is also the command and control ship for the Commander Joint Command Lisbon and the Commander Striking Force NATO. She had previously served for years as the COMSTRIKFLTLANT(NATO Designation) / Second Fleet's command ship. <ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mount_Whitney_(LCC-20)</ref>
Alleged to be the most sophisticated Command, Control, Communications, Computer, and Intelligence (C4I) ship ever commissioned, Mount Whitney incorporates various elements of the most advanced C4I equipment and gives the embarked Joint Task Force Commander the capability to effectively command all units under his or her command.
LCC 20 carries enough food to feed the crew for 90 days and can transport supplies to support an emergency evacuation of 3,000 people. The ship makes 100,000 gallons of fresh water daily and carries over one million gallons of fuel, enough for a round trip, 16 knot, 35 day voyage from Norfolk, Virginia to Mozambique in the Indian Ocean. The ship's two anchors weigh 11 tons each and are attached to 180 fathoms (or 1,080 feet) of anchor chain. Each chain weighs almost 25 tons. Total electrical capacity is 7,500 kilowatts, a sufficient amount to power a small city. <ref>http://www.public.navy.mil/surflant/lcc20/Pages/History.aspx</ref>
