The ship was named in memory of the World War I Battle of Belleau Wood, in which United States soldiers and Marines of the American Expeditionary Forces, defeated German troops after nearly four weeks of intense fighting. According to United States Marine Corps lore, the German defenders referred to them as "Teufelshunde" (literally, "Devil Dogs") and it was this moniker that became the ship's mascot, and one of the nicknames for US Marines (Devil Dog).