page_title: USS Peleliu
section_title: Operational history
hierarchical_section_title: USS Peleliu / Operational history
caption_attribution_description: English: The U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA-5) underway off Australia, in 1982. Peleliu participated in exercise "Freedom Pennant ’82", a joint exercise held in the southeast Indian Ocean at the Australian Army’s Lancelin gunfire range 200 km north of Perth in Western Australia. "Freedom Pennant" involved more than 5,000 sailors and marines from the Peleliu, USS Cleveland (LPD-7), and USS Peoria (LST-1183).
context_page_description: USS Peleliu is a Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship of the United States Navy, named for the Battle of Peleliu of World War II. Entering service in 1980, she has been deployed to the Persian Gulf on several occasions, performed an evacuation of U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, operated with the INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce, participated in Pacific Partnership deployments, and provided assistance following the massive floods in Pakistan in 2010. She was decommissioned in San Diego, California on March 31, 2015. She currently rests, out of commission and in reserve, at NAVSEA Inactive Ships On-site Maintenance Office, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii alongside USS Tarawa in the inactive reserve in case of further need.
context_section_description: Peleliu immediately steamed southwards and transited the Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean. She crossed the Equator for the first time on 27 May 1980, setting a new record for time between an American warship's commissioning and her crossing over into the Southern Hemisphere. Peleliu then steamed to the seaport of Long Beach, California.
  Following the 17 October 1989 San Francisco earthquake, Peleliu was one of the 24 U.S. Navy and Military Sealift Command ships that rendered assistance. Peleliu provided shelter for 300 victims and provided helicopter support.
  Peleliu deployed again to the Western Pacific in January 1990. The ship, along with her Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), participated in multinational exercises including Exercise Team Spirit with forces from the Republic of Korea, and Exercise Cobra Gold, in Thailand. Peleliu returned home to Naval Station Long Beach in July and later that summer entered the shipyard for an availability period that was scheduled to last nearly a year. The U.S. response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990 curtailed the shipyard availability and forced Peleliu into an accelerated schedule of pre-deployment training, but she did not deploy for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. She eventually departed Long Beach in May 1991, in support of ongoing U.S. operations in the Middle East. In June 1991, while en route to the Persian Gulf, she was diverted from a scheduled port call in Hong Kong to the Philippines, where she participated in the evacuation of the Americans from the Naval Base Subic Bay following the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo. This evacuation included taking most of the patients from the maternity ward at the Subic Bay naval hospital, and hence there were several births on board. This eruption was one of the largest of the past 100 years and covered a large region of the Philippines in volcanic ash and caused extensive damage to American military bases in the area, including Naval Station Subic Bay, Naval Air Station Cubi Point, and Clark Air Force Base.
  On returning to her home port at Long Beach Naval Shipyard, Peleliu went through an extensive shipyard rehabilitation, including time in the dry dock. She was again underway by May 1992 and going through workups and inspections for her next Western Pacific (WESTPAC) deployment on 21 January 1994. She changed home ports to Naval Station San Diego during this time period. On deploying with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, and following stops in Pearl Harbor and Singapore, she steamed for Mogadishu, Somalia to participate in Operation Continue Hope and Operation Quick Draw. She arrived on station around 3 March 1994 and spent the next three months supporting operations in the area. VIP visits included Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General John Shalikashvili, COMPHIBGRU THREE, Rear Admiral James B. Perkins III, and CJTF Major General Thomas M. Montgomery, U.S. Army and Brig. General Vercauteren, USMC. While off the coast of Mombasa, she participated in Operation Distant Runner at the border of Rwanda and Burundi. Medical and Dental Civic Action Programs(MEDCAP, DENCAP) were performed in the villages of Kipini and Witu, Kenya, providing medical and dental services to local civilians. Leaving Somalia on 4 June 1994, she steamed to Perth, Australia for a port visit. On 30 June 1994, Peleliu slowed her pace home and along with ship's company, Marines of 2nd Battalion 5th Marines, paused to honor the fallen off the coast of her name sake Peleliu, where 50 years earlier the Marines of the 1st Marine Division suffered 6,526 casualties with 1,256 killed in action against 10,138 Japanese defenders of which very few were taken alive in the Battle of Peleliu.
  Peleliu was deployed to East Timor as part of the Australian-led INTERFET peacekeeping task force from 26 October to 27 November 1999.
  Peleliu departed from San Diego in August 2001 with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit on board for a six-month deployment in the Western Pacific. She was in the port of Darwin, Australia during the September 11 attacks. Fo
caption: Peleliu off Australia in 1982.
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