English: USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) was put "in commission special" on 14 November 1970, at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard as an Amphibious Command and Control (LCC) ship, with Captain Kent J. Carroll (Vice Admiral Carroll, Ret.) as the Commanding Officer. "The ship was sponsored by Mrs. Harry F. Byrd, Jr., wife of the U. S. Senator from Virginia. The principal speaker at the ceremony was the Honorable John W. Warner, Under Secretary of the Navy." [1]

"BLUE RIDGE, the first ship of her class, represents almost 7 years of planning and construction work which has pro-duced a ship specifically designed from the keel up as a com-mand and control ship. BLUE RIDGE is capable of supporting the staff of both the Commander of an Amphibious Task Force and the staff of the Commanding General of the Landing Force. The advanced computer system, extensive communications package and modern surveillance and detection systems are molded into the most advanced joint amphibious command and control center ever constructed." [2]

"In becoming operational BLUE RIDGE assumes the distinct-ion of carrying the world's most sophisticated electronics com-plex to sea--a package some thirty percent larger than that of the attack carrier John F. Kennedy, which until the time of the BLUE RIDGE's commissioning, held this record. BLUE RIDGE utilizes her "main battery" of computers, communications gear, and other electronic facilities to fulfill her mission as a "com-mand ship for Amphibious Task Force and Landing Force Commanders during Amphibious Operations," ... an extremely refined communications system is also an integral part of the ship's radical new design. Through an Auto-mated patch panel and computer controlled switching matrix and combination of communication equipment desired may be quickly connected. The "clean" topside area is the result of careful design intended to keep to a minimum the ship's interference to her own communications system." [3]