During the 1950s and 60s, the amphibs of the gator navy, tasked with hauling Marines from place to place, were either ships that crashed their open front bows on the beach ala WWII style (LSTs), mini-carriers that were crammed full of choppers (LPHs) or dock landing ships that served as mother ships for small boats (LPD, LSDs). None of these, even the largest, were over 16,000~ tons.
So how about take a flattop chopper carrier like a LPH, double the size of it, and add a well deck like a LSD/LPH and give it the cargo capacity of an LST to make one motherbig assault ship that could double as a harrier carrier/ASW base for sea control or as a mine sweeper mother-ship if needed.
With that the Tarawa class of amphibious assault ships (LHA) were ordered from Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula during the Nixon era. These 44,000-ton ships, the size of the WWII era Essex class fleet carriers they in some roles replaced, were designed to shlep up to 1700 Marines in style while carrying 25-30 helicopters, a battalion’s worth of vehicles, and a small flotilla of landing craft.
141022-N-NZ935-083 PHILIPPINE SEA (Oct. 22, 2014) The amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5) (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Joshua Hammond/Released) Click to big up. *Note the two dimples in the flight deck were for 5-inch guns that were removed in the 90s.
Five of these hardy greenside flattops were built with the last, USS Peleliu (LHA-5) commissioning in 1980. I was six when I watched that ship leave ‘Goula as a kid, standing at the old Coast Guard station with a fishing pole in the water.
She was named after the 1944 Battle of Peleliu, where US Marines had to fight for every inch of real estate. Note the BAR and M1919 dropping it like its hot.
Now, as I myself have grown into an old man, the “Iron Nickle” is being put out to pasture, replaced by the new USS America (LHA-6) which I saw leave Pascagoula just a couple months ago.
Peleliu has been in the thick of it for the past 35 years.
As noted by Navy Times,
During the ship’s three decade run, it set many firsts for the blue/green team, which conducted 178,051 flight operations, steamed approximately 1,011,946 nautical miles and counted 57,983 crewmembers.
They include the first:
Fleet firing of the RIM 116 Rolling Airframe Missile, in October 1995.
MH-60S Knighthawk landing on a Pacific Fleet ship, in April 2003.
Expeditionary Strike Group to deploy (led by Peleliu), in August 2003.
LHA-class ship to receive the expeditionary fighting vehicle in its welldeck, in January 2009.
She also helped evac Subic and Clark following Mt. Pinatubo, responded to San Fransisco after the great World Series Earthquake, and deployed with her Marines 17 times, many of which turned hot and spicy in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean.
140813-N-LQ926-186 PACIFIC OCEAN (Aug. 13, 2014) Sailors participate in a swim call aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Alex Van’tLeven/Released)
140903-N-HU377-024 EAST CHINA SEA (Sept. 3, 2014) AV-8B Harriers assigned to Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 542, 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, taxi into position during flight operations aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA 5). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Dustin Knight/Released)
She will now be placed into strategic reserve at Pearl Harbor where she will be reunited with her long decommissioned sisters Tarawa (LHA-1) and Nassau (LHA-4) in mothballs. Two other class members, Saipan (LHA-2) and Belleau Wood (LHA-3) have been scrapped and expended as targets respectively, fates that are likely to be options for the remaining sisters.
“Pax per Potens”
