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USS Bataan (LHD-5)
Encyclopedia
USS Bataan (LHD-5) is a commissioned in 1997. She is named to honor the defense of the Bataan Peninsula
on the western side of Manila Bay
in the Philippines
during the early days of US involvement in World War II
.
Gen. Carl E. Mundy, Jr., christened the new ship "in the name of the United States and in honor of the heroic defenders of Bataan." at Ingalls Shipbuilding
, Pascagoula
, Mississippi
. More than 100 members of veterans groups associated with the defense of Bataan
and the subsequent infamous "Death March
", the Battle of Corregidor
, and the aircraft carrier were at the christening ceremony.
Squadrons along with . She has made two deployments to the region since the invasion. For her third deployment, she joined the Fifth Fleet in the Gulf region, transiting the Suez Canal
into the Red Sea
on 30 January 2007.
Bataan provided relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina
. She was positioned near New Orleans prior to Katrina making landfall, and began relief operations on 30 August. The ship's helicopters were among the first to provide damage assessment. They went on to transport over 1600 displaced persons. Bataan delivered more than 100,000 pounds (45 metric tons) of cargo and 8000 U.S. gallons (30,000 liters) of fresh water to the area. The ship served as a base for two fly-away medical teams, consisting of 84 medical professionals, who provided emergency medical care in New Orleans.
tiltrotor
aircraft in September 2005. This work included OPEVAL II operational and live fire tests and was accomplished with a total of eight Ospreys.
In 2009, the Bataan became the first Navy ship to host an operational squadron of V-22 rotorcraft when she embarked ten Ospreys of the VMM-263
.
. She was ordered to be prepared to deploy in the event that the Navy is directed to provide assistance to civilian authorities after Hurricane Gustav
came ashore.
. It was deployed to Grand-Goâve. She returned home 3 April 2010.
over Libya.
On 2 June 2008 The Guardian
reported that "The US has admitted that the Bataan and Peleliu
were used as prison ship
s between December 2001 and January 2002". The article went on to state: "President George Bush admitted in September 2006 that the CIA operated a secret network of 'black sites' in which terrorist suspects were held and subjected to what he called 'enhanced interrogation techniques
', a term described by the Council of Europe
as 'essentially a euphemism for some kind of torture'."
It is also known that John Walker Lindh
, the "American Taliban", was escorted back to the United States aboard Bataan.
after an eight week investigation into use of the drug by the ship's crewmembers.
Bataan Peninsula
The Bataan Peninsula is a rocky extension of the Zambales Mountains, on Luzon in the Philippines. It separates the Manila Bay from the South China Sea...
on the western side of Manila Bay
Manila Bay
Manila Bay is a natural harbor which serves the Port of Manila , in the Philippines.The bay is considered to be one of the best natural harbors in Southeast Asia and one of the finest in the world...
in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
during the early days of US involvement in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Christening
Ship's Sponsor, Linda Sloan Mundy, wife of former Marine Corps CommandantCommandant of the Marine Corps
The Commandant of the Marine Corps is normally the highest ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff...
Gen. Carl E. Mundy, Jr., christened the new ship "in the name of the United States and in honor of the heroic defenders of Bataan." at Ingalls Shipbuilding
Ingalls Shipbuilding
Ingalls Shipbuilding is a shipyard located in Pascagoula, Mississippi, USA, originally established in 1938, and is now part of Huntington Ingalls Industries...
, Pascagoula
Pascagoula, Mississippi
Pascagoula is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula, Mississippi Metropolitan Statistical Area, as a part of the Gulfport–Biloxi–Pascagoula, Mississippi Combined Statistical Area. The population was 26,200 at the 2000 census...
, Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
. More than 100 members of veterans groups associated with the defense of Bataan
Battle of Bataan
The Battle of Bataan represented the most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II. The capture of the Philippine Islands was crucial to Japan's effort to control the Southwest Pacific, seize the resource-rich Dutch East Indies, and protect its Southeast...
and the subsequent infamous "Death March
Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer, by the Imperial Japanese Army, of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of prisoners.The march was characterized by...
", the Battle of Corregidor
Battle of Corregidor
The Battle for Corregidor was the culmination of the Japanese campaign for the conquest of the Philippines. The fall of Bataan on 9 April 1942 ended all organized opposition by the U.S...
, and the aircraft carrier were at the christening ceremony.
2003 to 2007 Iraq War
The Bataan was one of many vessels in the Middle East region at the beginning of the Iraq war on or about 20 March 2003. After delivering her attack and transport helicopters, troops, and vehicles she was employed as a "Harrier Carrier" with primary duties supporting two Marine AV-8B Harrier IIAV-8B Harrier II
The McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II is a second-generation vertical/short takeoff and landing ground-attack aircraft. An Anglo-American development of the British Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the Harrier II is the final member of the Harrier family that started with the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 in...
Squadrons along with . She has made two deployments to the region since the invasion. For her third deployment, she joined the Fifth Fleet in the Gulf region, transiting the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
into the Red Sea
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...
on 30 January 2007.
Bataan provided relief to the victims of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. She was positioned near New Orleans prior to Katrina making landfall, and began relief operations on 30 August. The ship's helicopters were among the first to provide damage assessment. They went on to transport over 1600 displaced persons. Bataan delivered more than 100,000 pounds (45 metric tons) of cargo and 8000 U.S. gallons (30,000 liters) of fresh water to the area. The ship served as a base for two fly-away medical teams, consisting of 84 medical professionals, who provided emergency medical care in New Orleans.
2005 Evaluation of V-22 Osprey
The Bataan served as a naval testbed for evaluation of the V-22 OspreyV-22 Osprey
The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American multi-mission, military, tiltrotor aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing , and short takeoff and landing capability...
tiltrotor
Tiltrotor
A tiltrotor is an aircraft which uses a pair or more of powered rotors mounted on rotating shafts or nacelles at the end of a fixed wing for lift and propulsion, and combines the vertical lift capability of a helicopter with the speed and range of a conventional fixed-wing aircraft...
aircraft in September 2005. This work included OPEVAL II operational and live fire tests and was accomplished with a total of eight Ospreys.
In 2009, the Bataan became the first Navy ship to host an operational squadron of V-22 rotorcraft when she embarked ten Ospreys of the VMM-263
VMM-263
Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 is a United States Marine Corps tiltrotor squadron consisting of MV-22B Osprey transport aircraft...
.
2008 Hurricane Gustav
Early in September 2008, Bataan participated in the HURREX exercise where the U.S. Second Fleet directed tests designed to evaluate the ship's ability to respond to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief needs during the 2008 hurricane season2008 Atlantic hurricane season
The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season was a very active hurricane season with sixteen named storms formed, including eight that became hurricanes and five that became major hurricanes. The season officially started on June 1 and ended on November 30. These dates conventionally delimit the period of...
. She was ordered to be prepared to deploy in the event that the Navy is directed to provide assistance to civilian authorities after Hurricane Gustav
Hurricane Gustav
The name Gustav has been used for five tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean:* 1984's Tropical Storm Gustav - Spent most of its existence as a tropical depression hovering over Bermuda, no major damage was reported....
came ashore.
2010 Haiti earthquake
On 13 January 2010, the Bataan was ordered to assist in the humanitarian relief efforts following the 2010 Haiti earthquake2010 Haiti earthquake
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time on Tuesday, 12 January 2010.By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks...
. It was deployed to Grand-Goâve. She returned home 3 April 2010.
2011 Libya & Italy
On March 23 2011 the USS Bataan was deployed to Libya to assist in enforcing the no-fly zone2011 military intervention in Libya
On 19 March 2011, a multi-state coalition began a military intervention in Libya to implement United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which was taken in response to events during the 2011 Libyan civil war...
over Libya.
Controversy regarding use as a prison ship
In June, 2008, the UK-based human rights organization Reprieve issued a report that listed the Bataan as one of up to 17 ships where they believed terrorism suspects were being imprisoned. The US Navy denied the allegation.On 2 June 2008 The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
reported that "The US has admitted that the Bataan and Peleliu
USS Peleliu (LHA-5)
USS Peleliu is a Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship of the United States Navy, named after the Battle of Peleliu during World War II. Entering service in 1980, the ship has been deployed to the Persian Gulf on several occasions, performed an evacuation of U.S...
were used as prison ship
Prison ship
A prison ship, historically sometimes called a prison hulk, is a vessel used as a prison, often to hold convicts awaiting transportation to penal colonies. This practice was popular with the British government in the 18th and 19th centuries....
s between December 2001 and January 2002". The article went on to state: "President George Bush admitted in September 2006 that the CIA operated a secret network of 'black sites' in which terrorist suspects were held and subjected to what he called 'enhanced interrogation techniques
Enhanced interrogation techniques
Enhanced interrogation techniques or alternative set of procedures are terms adopted by the George W. Bush administration in the United States to describe certain severe interrogation methods, often described as torture...
', a term described by the Council of Europe
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is an international organisation promoting co-operation between all countries of Europe in the areas of legal standards, human rights, democratic development, the rule of law and cultural co-operation...
as 'essentially a euphemism for some kind of torture'."
It is also known that John Walker Lindh
John Walker Lindh
John Phillip Walker Lindh is a United States citizen who was captured as an enemy combatant during the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. He is now serving a 20-year prison sentence in connection with his participation in Afghanistan's Taliban army...
, the "American Taliban", was escorted back to the United States aboard Bataan.
Crew dismissals
In February 2011, the Navy announced that 16 members of the ship's crew were being dismissed for using the drug spice. Fifteen of the sailors received non-judicial punishment and one was convicted in a summary court-martialSummary (law)
Summary, in law, forms many compounds as an adjective meaning "short, concise":*Summary abatement, the abatement of a nuisance without judicial proceeding, even without notice or hearing, often by a destruction of the offending thing or structure...
after an eight week investigation into use of the drug by the ship's crewmembers.
External links
- USS Bataan Homepage
- Maritimequest USS Bataan LHD-5 Photo Gallery
- OPEVAL II testing report in pdf form
- The case of the Taliban American CNN
- Navy ship nearby underused Chicago Tribune 4 Sept 2005
- Harrier carrier: Strike force for freedom
- USS Bataan history at U.S. Carriers
- USS Bataan (LHD-5) command histories – Naval History & Heritage Command