Everything about Uss Tarawa Lha-1 totally explained
USS Tarawa (LHA-1) is a
United States Navy amphibious assault ship, the
lead ship of
her class, and the second ship to be named for
Tarawa Atoll, site of a
Marine landing during
World War II. The first
Tarawa was the .
History
She was laid down in November 1972 at
Pascagoula, Mississippi, by
Ingalls Shipbuilding, launched
1 December 1973, sponsored by Audrey B. Cushman, the wife of General Thomas J. Cushman, former Commandant of the
Marine Corps; and commissioned on
29 May 1976, Capt.
James H. Morris in command.
Tarawa is the first of five ships in a new class of general-purpose amphibious assault ships and combines in one ship type the functions previously performed by four different types: the amphibious assault ship (LPH), the
amphibious transport dock (LPD), the
amphibious cargo ship (LKA), and the
dock landing ship (LSD). She is capable of landing elements of a Marine Corps battalion landing team and their supporting equipment by landing craft, by
helicopters, or by a combination of both.
The ship departed Pascagoula on
7 July 1976 and set a course for the
Panama Canal. She transited the canal on
16 July and, after a stop at
Acapulco,
Mexico, arrived at
San Diego, California on
6 August. During the remainder of 1976, the amphibious assault ship conducted trials, tests, and shakedown in the southern California operating area.
During the first half of 1977,
Tarawa was engaged in training exercises off the California coast. On
13 August, she entered
Long Beach Naval Shipyard for post shakedown availability which was completed on
15 July 1978. Following four and one half months of intensive individual ship and amphibious refresher training with embarked marines,
Tarawa ended 1978 in her home port of San Diego on Christmas stand down.
Missions
Her first deployment came in 1979, where she successfully experimented with
AV-8 Harrier jets and later rescued 400
Vietnamese refugees adrift in the
South China Sea.
After a second deployment in 1980, and in 1983, during her third deployment,
Tarawa went to the
Mediterranean to support the UN peacekeepers in
Beirut,
Lebanon. Several additional cruises followed.
In December 1990,
Tarawa was the
flagship of a thirteen-ship amphibious task force in support of
Operation Desert Storm. She participated in the
Sea Soldier IV landing exercise in January that was a deception maneuver suggesting an amphibious assault in
Kuwait, and then on
24 February landed Marines in
Saudi Arabia just south of the Kuwaiti border.
In May 1991,
Tarawa went to
Bangladesh in support of
Operation Sea Angel, providing humanitarian assistance to victims of a
cyclone, delivering rice and water purification equipment.
Her 1992 deployment included visits to Hong Kong, Singapore, the Persian Gulf, Somalia, and Australia.
In April 1996, following another complex overhaul at
Long Beach Naval Shipyard,
Tarawa left from San Diego on its ninth Western Pacific deployment. A U.S./Thailand amphibious training exercise in the Gulf of Thailand, and exercise Indigo Serpent (with the Royal Saudi Arabian Navy) and exercise Infinite Moonlight (the first-ever exercise between U.S. and Royal Jordanian Navy) in the Red Sea preceded Tarawas visit to thePersian Gulf in support of Operation Southern Watch, enforcing the "no-fly zone" over southern Iraq. Tarawa was also part of Operation Desert Strike. Returning to San Diego in October 1996, Tarawa earned both the Federal Energy Conservation Award and the Secretary of the Navy Energy Conservation Award'.
In mid October 2000, the Tarawa was passing through the
Strait of Hormuz on her way into the
Persian Gulf when the was attacked. Upon news of the attack, the
Tarawa came about and steamed full ahead to the
Port of Aden in
Yemen where she joined the,, and the
British ship, already providing logistical support and harbor security, as the command ship in charge of force protection in what became "Operation Determined Response". Other US Naval ships involved were the,,, and the . The
Tarawa remained with the
Cole until she was secure aboard the
Norwegian heavy-lift semi-submersible salvage ship [ for passage to the US before returning to duty in the Persian Gulf.
Part of the film
Rules of Engagement (2000) includes scenes of actor
Samuel L. Jackson filmed aboard the
Tarawa.
Tarawa's latest deployment from mid 2005 to early 2006 took her to the Middle East in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom. She transported the
13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. During this deployment, she visited
Darwin, Australia,
Dubai, UAE,
Bahrain,
Singapore, and
Hong Kong. Until recently she was deployed in Bangladesh once again as part of the Cyclone Sidr relief efforts with the
Kearsarge. Code name for the mission was "Operations Sea Angel II" in recognition of the
Tarawa's previous support to Bangladesh in 1991. Currently she's in port in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia before returning to her home port of San Diego.
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