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USS Bataan (LHD-5)
USINFO | 2013-09-29 17:46
USS Bataan (LHD-5) is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship commissioned in 1997. She is named to honor the defense of the Bataan Peninsula on the western side of Manila Bay in the Philippines during the early days of US involvement in World War II.
Christening
Ship's Sponsor, Linda Sloan Mundy, wife of former Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Carl E. Mundy, Jr., christened the new ship "in the name of the United States and in honor of the heroic defenders of Bataan." at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi. More than 100 members of veterans groups associated with the defense of Bataan and the subsequent infamous "Death March", the Battle of Corregidor, and the aircraft carrier USS Bataan (CVL-29) were at the christening ceremony.
Missions
2001 to 2003 Operation Enduring Freedom
The USS Bataan Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) were the first ships to respond after the terrorist attacks on 9/11/2001. The ship was home on leave during the attack and was scheduled to be deployed on September 19th 2001. The crew was called back from leave early and the ship headed for New York Harbor, as it is capable of acting as a 600 bed hospital ship with surgical suites on board. Once it was determined there were few survivors, the Bataan returned to Norfolk. The ship's crew prepared and onloaded the 26 Marine Expeditionary Unit with gear both pierside in Norfolk, and off the coast of North Carolina from Cherry Point and Camp Lejeune. The Bataan ARG delivered more than 2,500 Marines and their equipment to Pakistan with the aim to enter Afghanistan, thus opening Operation Enduring Freedom. The Bataan ARG stayed on station off the coast of Pakistan and completed the longest sustained amphibious assault in U.S. history with sailors not touching ground for over 4 months.
2003 to 2007 Iraq War
The Bataan was one of many vessels in the Middle East region at the beginning of the Iraq war on or about 20 March 2003. After delivering her attack and transport helicopters, troops, and vehicles she was employed as a "Harrier Carrier" with primary duties supporting two Marine AV-8B Harrier II Squadrons along with USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6). She has made two deployments to the region since the invasion. For her third deployment, she joined the Fifth Fleet in the Gulf region, transiting the Suez Canal into the Red Sea on 30 January 2007.
Bataan provided relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. She was positioned near New Orleans prior to Katrina making landfall, and began relief operations on 30 August. The ship's helicopters were among the first to provide damage assessment. They went on to transport over 1600 displaced persons. Bataan delivered more than 100,000 pounds (45 metric tons) of cargo and 8000 U.S. gallons (30,000 liters) of fresh water to the area. The ship served as a base for two fly-away medical teams, consisting of 84 medical professionals, who provided emergency medical care in New Orleans.
2005 evaluation of V-22 Osprey
The Bataan served as a naval testbed for evaluation of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft in September 2005. This work included OPEVAL II operational and live fire tests and was accomplished with a total of eight Ospreys.
In 2009, the Bataan became the first Navy ship to host an operational squadron of V-22 rotorcraft when she embarked ten Ospreys of the VMM-263.
2008 Hurricane Gustav
Early in September 2008, Bataan participated in the HURREX exercise where the U.S. Second Fleet directed tests designed to evaluate the ship's ability to respond to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief needs during the 2008 hurricane season. She was ordered to be prepared to deploy in the event that the Navy is directed to provide assistance to civilian authorities after Hurricane Gustav came ashore.
2010 Haiti earthquake
On 13 January 2010, the Bataan was ordered to assist in the humanitarian relief efforts following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. She was deployed to Grand-Goâve and returned home 1 April 2010.
2011 Libya and Italy
On 23 March 2011 the USS Bataan was deployed to Libya to assist in enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya.
Controversy regarding use as a prison ship
In June, 2008, the UK-based human rights organization Reprieve issued a report that listed the Bataan as one of up to 17 ships where they believed terrorism suspects were being imprisoned. The US Navy denied the allegation.
On 2 June 2008 The Guardian reported that "The US has admitted that the Bataan and Peleliu were used as prison ships between December 2001 and January 2002". The article went on to state: "President George Bush admitted in September 2006 that the CIA operated a secret network of 'black sites' in which terrorist suspects were held and subjected to what he called 'enhanced interrogation techniques', a term described by the Council of Europe as 'essentially a euphemism for some kind of torture'."
It is also known that John Walker Lindh, the "American Taliban", was escorted back to the United States aboard Bataan.
Crew dismissals
In February 2011, the Navy announced that 16 members of the ship's crew were being dismissed for using the cannabis analogue drug spice. Fifteen of the sailors received non-judicial punishment and one was convicted in a summary court-martial after an eight week investigation into use of the drug by the ship's crewmembers.
