U.S.S. BELLEAU WOOD

The USS BELLEAU WOOD (LHA-3), a Tarawa class amphibious assault ship, was commissioned on 23 SEP 1978. Built in Pascagoula, Mississippi, BELLAEU WOOD sailed for homeport of San Diego, CA. She began her career of carrying Marines where needed. She routinely deployed for "watch" in the Western Pacific and an assortment of exercise and operations as needed, such as cold weather training in the Aleutian Islands, RIMPAC multi-national fleet exercises and was forward deployed to Sasebo, Japan in 1992. From Japan BELLEAU WOOD steamed as needed to contingency operations off East Timor and Somalia. BELLEAU WOOD returned to the US for overhaul in 2000. she sailed on a "West Pac" in 2002 and then a West Pac - Indian Ocean deployment in 2004. USS BELLEAU WOOD served her country for 27 years, 1 month and 5 days, until decommissioned on 28 OCT 2005. The hulk of the BELLEAU WOOD was disposed of by SINKEX during the RIMPAC 2006 multinational fleet exercise in July 2006.

The USS BELLEAU WOOD (LHA-3) deployment history and significant events of her service career follow: