Mount Whitney 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 over 100,000 gallons of fresh water daily. The ship 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.

Homeported in Norfolk, Virginia, USS Mount Whitney (LCC/JCC 20) was constructed by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company and is named for the 14,946-foot peak in the Sierra-Nevada range in California, the highest point in the lower continential United States, is the first ship in the Navy to bear this name.

Mount Whitney serves as the Flagship for Commander Second Fleet/Commander Striking Fleet Atlantic. It has a complement of 750 enlisted personnel and officers. Mount Whitney was the first U.S. Navy combantant to permanently accommodate women on board.

As 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 the command of the Commander, Joint Task Force.

The ship's afloat communications capability is second to none. Mount Whitney can receive and transmit large amounts of secure data from any point on earth through HF, UHF, VHF, SHF and EHF communications paths. This technology enables the Joint Intelligence Center and Joint Operations Center to provide the most timely intelligence and operational support available in the Navy.

The ship is armed with two 20mm Close-In Weapons Systems (CIWS), Super RBOC chaff rockets, 25mm chain guns and .50 caliber machine guns.

USS Mount Whitney , the Navy's premier "Fighting Flagship," is the most capable joint C4I platform afloat in the world. With a loyal, able and determined crew, Mount Whitney stands ready to conduct combat operations in support of Commander Second Fleet.