Home > USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3)

The second USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3), nicknamed "Big Dawg", is the third United States Navy Tarawa class amphibious assault ship.

Her keel was laid down on 5 March 1973 at Pascagoula, Mississippi, by Ingalls Shipbuilding. She was launched on 11 April 1977, and commissioned on 23 September 1978, Capt. T.C. Steele in command.

Belleau Wood is the third of five ships in a new class of general-purpose amphibious assault ships and combines in one ship type the functions previously performed by four different types: the amphibious assault ship (LPH), the amphibious transport dock (LPD), the amphibious cargo ship (LKA), and the dock landing ship (LSD). She is capable of landing elements of a United States Marine CorpsThe United States Marine Corps USMC is the second-smallest of the five branches of the United States armed forces, with 170,000 active and 40,000 reserve Marines as of 2002. The United States Coast Guard is the smallest. The Marine Corps is nonetheless la battalion landing team and their supporting equipment by landing craftA landing craft is a type of boat used to convey infantry and vehicles on to a shore during an assault from sea to land. Most renowned are the amphibious mechanized assault landing craft used to storm the beaches of Normandy during WWII. Landing Craft are, by helicopterA helicopter is an aircraft which is lifted and propelled by one or more large horizontal rotors ( propellers). Helicopters are classified as rotary-wing aircraft to distinguish them from conventional fixed-wing aircraft. The word helicopter is derived frs, or by a combination of both.

1 Ship History

Homeported in San Diego, California in October 1978, Belleau Wood participated in her first full-scale operation in 1979 off the coast of Hawaii.

Belleau Wood began her first major deployment in January 1981. The ship rescued 150 Vietnamese refugees, earning the crew the Humanitarian Service Medal. The deployment included three major exercises and eight port visits. Belleau Wood returned to San Diego in August 1981.

In August 1982, the ship began its second deployment and participated in four major amphibious exercises including JADE TIGER 83. Belleau Wood's third successful deployment ran from January to July 1984. The ship then completed an 11-month complex overhaul at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Bremerton, Washington.

In January 1987, Belleau Wood got underway for her fourth deployment. The crew participated in four major exercises, including the first winter amphibious exercises conducted in the Aleutian Islands since World War II, and introduced the ship to the AV-8B Harrier jump jet. The ship also received the Admiral Flatley Memorial Award in 1987 for Aviation Safety.

In January 1989, Belleau Wood departed for the Western Pacific. Over the next five months, the ship participated in Exercise TEAM SPIRIT 89 in Korea and Exercise VALIANT USHER in the Philippines and Korea.

On 4 October 1989, the ship hosted the Minister of Defense of the Soviet Union during his historic visit to the United States.

Belleau Wood entered her second complex overhaul at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in Long Beach, California in 1990. Major work included an upgrade to CIWS and installation of the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) System.

On 31 August 1992, Belleau Wood sailed out of San Diego for the last time, bound for its new homeport in Sasebo, Japan. During this transit, the ship provided disaster relief to the people of Kauai, Hawaii after Hurricane Iniki ravaged the island. For this, the crew was awarded its second Humanitarian Service Medal. Upon arrival in Japan, Belleau Wood became the only forward deployed amphibious assault ship in the world.

On 24 November 1992, Belleau Wood became the last ship to sail out of the Philippines while conducting the final withdrawal of U.S. Forces from Naval Station Subic Bay and Naval Air Station Cubi Point.

Following her move to Japan, Belleau Wood became a familiar sight at joint-military exercises such as VALIANT USHER in Australia, TEAM SPIRIT in Korea, COBRA GOLD in Thailand and TANDEM THRUST near Guam. Belleau Wood also became the first large-deck Navy ship to undergo pierside maintenance by COMLOGWESTPAC, Singapore. Belleau Wood participated in the World War II 50th anniversary commemoration ceremonies in Guam and the Philippines and served off the coast of Somalia in 1995 as the command platform for Operation UNITED SHIELD.

In July 2000, Belleau Wood took part in the largest crew swap to date when she was relieved as forward deployed amphibious assault ship. The procedure started when USS Essex (LHD-2) arrived in Sasebo on 13 July 2000. The swap was part of a planned rotation of forward deployed naval forces in Japan, and was the third crew-swap exchange. The ships’ crews simply switched ships, minimizing the impact of moving families from homeport to homeport. Sailors in Sasebo assigned to USS Belleau Wood, moved on to Essex, while Sailors from San Diego assigned to Essex moved aboard Belleau Wood. Belleau Wood and the San Diego-based crew then returned to San Diego in mid-August to begin overhaul and maintenance cycles.

In November 2003, Belleau Wood was the site of another first when Brigadier General Joseph V. Medina took command of the Expeditionary Strike Group THREE, of which Belleau Wood was the flagship. This event marked the first time in history that a United States Marine Corps officer took command of a Naval flotilla.