USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3)
 Belleau Wood prepares to pick up a landing craft |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Order | 15th November 1969 |
| Keel laying | March 5th 1973 |
| Launch | April 11, 1977 |
| 1. Period of service |
|
| Commissioning | September 23, 1978 |
| Decommissioning | October 28, 2005 |
| Whereabouts | sunk as a target ship |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
39,925 tons |
| length |
249.9 meters |
| width |
32.3 meters |
| Draft |
8.2 meters |
| crew |
82 officers, 882 sailors, up to 1894 troops |
| drive |
2 propellers, driven by 2 steam turbines; 70,000 wave horsepower |
| speed |
20+ knots |
| Armament |
2 starter RAM , various guns |
USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) was the third ship in the Tarawa-class , a class of amphibious assault ships in the United States Navy . It was named after the Battle of Belleau Forest ( World War I ).
history
The Belleau Wood was laid down on March 5, 1973 by Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi . The launch took place on April 11, 1977. The commissioning took place on September 23, 1978 under Captain Steele. As of October 1978, San Diego was the home port. The first training mission took the Belleau Wood off the coast of Hawaii in 1979 .
She was sent on her first mission in January 1981. The ship saved 150 Vietnamese refugees. The crew received the Humanitarian Service Medal for this. The mission trip included three major maneuvers and visits to eight ports. In August of the same year, the Belleau Wood returned to San Diego.
In August 1982 the ship began its second mission and participated in four major landing exercises, including the JADE TIGER 83. The third successful mission of the Belleau Wood lasted from January to July 1984. After that, the ship underwent an eleven-month overhaul period in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton , Washington , behind.
The fourth mission of the Belleau Wood began in January 1987 . She participated in four major training missions, including the first Aleutian winter landing exercise since the end of World War II . For the first time the AV-8B Harrier vertical takeoff was used. The ship also received the Admiral Flatley Memorial Award for Aviation Safety in 1987.
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In January 1989 the Belleau Wood ran out towards the western Pacific. During the next five months, the ship participated in the two exercises Team Spirit 89 in Korea and VALIANT USHER in the Philippines and Korea.
On October 4, 1989, the ship hosted the Secretary of Defense of the Soviet Union on his historic visit to the United States.
In 1990 the second phase of overhaul of the Belleau Wood began at the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in Long Beach , California . Among other things, the ship received an improved version of the close-range defense system Phalanx CIWS and a new defense system, the RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) system.
On October 28, 2005, the Belleau Wood was decommissioned. On July 13, 2006, the ship was sunk as a target ship during exercise RIMPAC .
