Under the designation SCB-248 (later SCB-400.65), the hull of the Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship was used as the basis of the design due to the flight deck's ability to distance antennas to minimize interference between the ships' multiple communications systems and to the deck's ability to act as a ground plane; the LPH island was replaced with a small centralized superstructure.

[3] At the time of their commissionings, the ships of the Blue Ridge class had the distinction of carrying the world's most sophisticated electronics suites, thirty percent larger than that of the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy, which had been the most complex.

They were fitted with a "main battery" of computers, communications gear, and other electronic facilities to fulfill their mission as command ships.

Through an automated patch panel and computer controlled switching matrix her crew could use any combination of communication equipment desired.

They also carried two Mark 25 launchers and electronics for the Basic Point Defense Missile System (BPDMS) which was added sometime in the 1970s and removed in the 1990s.