Capt. C. Ladd Wheeler assumed command of the 6th Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney on Friday. (Courtesy of U.S. Navy)
Capt. C. Ladd Wheeler assumed command of the 6th Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney on Friday. (Courtesy of U.S. Navy)
USS La Salle, left, and the USS Mount Whitney in Gaeta, Italy. (Jason Chudy / S&S)
GAETA, Italy — Capt. C. Ladd Wheeler relieved Capt. Christopher M. Wode as commander of the 6th Fleet flagship USS Mount Whitney during a formal ceremony Friday.
The ship had just assumed duties as the flagship during another ceremony a few hours earlier, taking over from the USS La Salle, which will be decommissioned.
The Mount Whitney arrived in its new homeport of Gaeta on Feb. 1 from Norfolk, Va., where it served as the 2nd Fleet flagship until late last year.
The Mount Whitney is one of the Navy’s most unusual warships.
Its status is that of an active-duty Navy vessel, retaining its “USS” designation, but it also falls under the Military Sealift Command with a civilian crew for many of its day-to-day operations.
The civilian portion of the Whitney has an officer in charge, who is Chief Mate William McCarthy.
The Mount Whitney carries a military crew of about 170 and another 140 civilian mariners.
Though this is the first time the Mount Whitney has called Gaeta home, it’s not the first time it has served as the fleet flagship. While the La Salle was in the shipyard in 1999, the Mount Whitney took over the role temporarily.
Determining the USS Whitney's status
The USS Mount Whitney sails in the unique role of being the only commissioned Navy ship to fall under the Military Sealift Command while still carrying the active-Navy “USS” designation.
MSC ships traditionally carry United States Naval Ship designations, while Navy ships carry the USS — United States Ship — designation.
Another Navy ship, the 3rd Fleet flagship USNS Coronado, was in a similar position. It was decommissioned from active Navy service for the second time last week and handed back to the sealift command. It had been under MSC between late 2003 and early 2004 before being recommissioned to serve as the temporary 7th Fleet flagship in Yokosuka, Japan.
The determination to make the Mount Whitney an MSC vessel while retaining its Navy designation was based on lessons taken from the Coronado, explained Vice Adm. H.G. Ulrich III, 6th Fleet commander.
The ship also is unusual in that it is only one of two designed from the keel up as a flagship, the other being the 7th Fleet flagship, USS Blue Ridge.
The Mount Whitney’s predecessor, USS La Salle, was designed as an amphibious dock landing ship and later converted to a flagship.
