USS Nassau (LHA-4) was a . When active, she was capable of transporting more than 3,000 United States Navy and United States Marine Corps personnel. Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, laid the ship's keel on 13 August 1973; she was commissioned on 28 July 1979. She was decommissioned on 31 March 2011. Description Nassau had 1,400 compartments, nine elevators and two horizontal conveyors. She also had two boilers – the largest ever manufactured for the United States Navy. They could generate 400 tons of steam per hour and develop . Nassaus electrical power subsystem provided 14 MW electrical power. She had air conditioning equipment rated at a total of 1,500 tons (5.3 MW) and could ballast 12,000 tons of seawater for trimming the ship to receive and discharge landing craft from the well deck. She was constructed with more than 20,000 tons of steel, 3,000 tons of aluminum, of cable and of pipe. She had a bow thruster for lateral movement at low speeds that could move the bow with 20,000 pounds of force (90 kN)—equivalent to half the pulling power of a diesel railroad locomotive. She had been fitted with a 300-bed hospital, four medical and three dental operating rooms. Her cargo areas were capable of holding tanks, trucks, artillery and large warfare supply needs. Operational history USS Nassau was commissioned at Pascagoula, Mississippi, on 28 July 1979. In October she deployed to reinforce Guantanamo base and earned the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation just 70 days after commissioning. In April 1981 the ship was deployed to Mediterranean to meet US commitment to have two carriers there. She operated for ten consecutive weeks as an aircraft carrier, reinforcing Sixth Fleet carrier . Marine Attack Squadrons 231 and 542 formed Marine Air Group 32, equipped with AV-8A planes. It was the first time US Navy operated an amphibious ship as Harrier carrier. Nassau was deployed to Beirut with the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit in February 1984, less than four months after the Beirut barracks bombing. In support of Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Nassau deployed to the Middle East for over eight months on only eight days' notice. On leaving the United States, Nassau became the flagship for Commander, Amphibious Task Force and the 4th MEB's Commanding General. In the last week of the war, she was employed as a "Harrier Carrier", tasked with operating primarily as a STOVL attack carrier for