Another big Navy aircraft-carrying ship is being assigned to Pearl Harbor — to ride out retirement as part of the inactive fleet.
The 820-foot San Diego-based amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu will be kept in reserve next to the equally stationary Tarawa in Middle Loch sometime after the Peleliu’s decommissioning on March 31, the Navy said.
The Tarawa was the first in its namesake class of amphibious ships, and the Peleliu was the last built. The Peleliu will be towed to Hawaii from San Diego.
Commissioned in 1980, the Peleliu was named after the Pacific island battle fought by U.S. Marines and soldiers in late 1944.
Henry J. Donigan wrote in 1994 for the Marine Corps Association that at Peleliu, "Marines, soldiers and sailors fought the Japanese in one of the most savage and costly battles in World War II."
The Peleliu (LHA-5), nicknamed the "Iron Nickel," conducted 17 deployments with 178,051 flight operations. It was the first ship to deploy Marines in support of operations in Afghanistan, the Navy said.
The ship carried a crew of more than 1,000 and Marine detachments of more than 1,900.
Helicopters and Harrier jump jets launched off the Peleliu’s deck. During Rim of the Pacific war games in Hawaii waters this past summer, MV-22 Ospreys and helicopters flew from the ship and amphibious craft were launched from its well deck.
The Peleliu returned to San Diego on Dec. 24 from a six-month deployment that included RIMPAC and security and stability operations with stops at Guam, Japan, the Philippines and Singapore.
Pearl Harbor’s Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility off Waipio Peninsula had 13 ships in Middle Loch in 2013.
