Belleau Wood
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 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 "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.