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Iwo
Jima Battle Assault Ship
Also
see:
Battle of Iwo Jima
Iwo Jima Battle Ships
Iwo Jima Battle Assault
Ship LHD-7
Iwo Jima Battle Assault
Ship LPH-2
Iwo Jima Battle Assault
Ship LPH-2 Operations
Battle of Iwo Jima -
American Landing
Battle of Iwo Jima -
Japanese Defense
Iwo Jima
Battle Assault Ship LHD-7
USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) is a
Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, named after the Battle
of Iwo Jima. Fabrication work for Iwo Jima began at
Ingalls shipyard on 3 September 1996, and the ship's keel
was laid on 12 December 1997.
Iwo Jima Battle
Assault Ship LHD-7
She was launched on 4 February 2000. USS Iwo Jima was
christened by her sponsor, Mrs. Zandra Krulak, wife of
General Charles C. Krulak, the former Commandant of the
Marine Corps, in Pascagoula, Mississippi on 25 March
2000. The commissioning crew moved aboard in April of
2001, and made the ship's maiden voyage (accompanied by
more than 2,000 World War II veterans—many of them
survivors of the Battle of Iwo Jima) on 23 June 2001. She
was commissioned a week later in Pensacola, Florida, on
30 June 2001.
Shortly thereafter, the ship and crew began an
accelerated Inter Deployment Training Cycle, which tested
virtually every system onboard in realistic combat
conditions. Iwo Jima was also the first ship on the
waterfront open to the public after the terrorist attacks
of September 11.
Iwo Jima Battle Assault ship and the Marines of the 26th
Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) deployed 4 March 2003 in
support of Operation Enduring Freedom. It was also in
2003 that the USS Iwo Jima was deployed to the coast of
Liberia as part of JTF Liberia. In July of 2003, the US
Army Southern European Task Force (USA SETAF) (Airborne),
with the 26 MEU and the ARG were sent to Liberia to
prevent a humanitarian disaster and secure peace in
Liberia. "At its height, JTF Liberia consisted of
over 5,000 service members from the SETAF headquarters,
the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the three-ship Iwo
Jima Amphibious Ready Group, 3rd Air Force's 398th Air
Expeditionary Group, U. S. Army Europe's 21st Theater
Support Command, and Army Special Forces." [1]. This
would not be the last of the humanitarian efforts the USS
Iwo Jima would participate in. In response to hurricane
Katrina, the Iwo Jima again served as the command ship
and lead the Joint Task Force "JTF Katrina."
Iwo Jima operating in fog in the Atlantic OceanThe ship's
motto, "Uncommon Valor," is based on Fleet
Admiral Chester W. Nimitz's words when he spoke
eloquently of Sailors and Marines who fought at Iwo Jima:
"Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island
uncommon valor was a common virtue."
In 2004, Iwo Jima participated at the annual Fleet Week
in New York City.
USS Iwo Jima currently serves as the 2nd Fleet flagship,
based out of Norfolk, Virginia.
On August 31, 2005, Iwo Jima's Amphibious Ready Group
made steam for the Hurricane Katrina stricken city of New
Orleans to join a sister ship, USS Bataan (LHD-5),
already there days earlier,
On June 6, 2006, the Iwo Jima led a seven ship convoy,
called the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group,
encompassing 6,000 sailors and Marines, on a six-month
tour of duty to the Middle East in support of the wars in
Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism.
News reports on July 15, 2006 [3] stated that the Iwo
Jima, along with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit,
would be used to evacuate U. S. citizens from Lebanon
after the Israeli Defense Force made the Beirut
International Airport unusable through bombing its
runways and fuel storage areas.
On August 31, 2005, the Iwo Jima was sortied to the Gulf
of Mexico to provide disaster relief and to conduct
support operations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The
Iwo Jima sailed up the Mississippi River to the city of
New Orleans to directly support relief operations and act
as the central command center for all federal, state and
local disaster recovery operations.
During this critical period, the Iwo Jima also served as
the region’s only fully functional air field for
helicopter operations, conducting over one thousand
flight deck operations; provided hot meals, showers,
drinking water, and berthing to thousands of National
Guardsmen and relief workers; provided medical services,
including first aid and surgical services, for disaster
victims; and conducted clean-up operations in the city
and suburbs of New Orleans.
The Iwo Jima served as flagship for the
commander-in-chief, George W. Bush, and is only the
second Navy ship to have been presented the flag of the
President of the United States of America.
On June 6, 2006, the Iwo Jima left its homeport of
Norfolk, Va., and began a regularly scheduled six-month
deployment to the U.S. European Command and U.S. Central
Command area of responsibilities. The ship has also been
a part of the evacuation effort of American citizens from
the current conflict in Lebanon. The task force headed by
the Iwo Jima reached the Persian Gulf on October 17, 2006
joining other US forces assembling for a possible future
military clash with Iran.
Text is available
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
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