When coalition forces crossed into Iraq in March 2003, the attack came from multiple directions — and one of those directions was from the sea. USS Bataan (LHD-5), a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, was in the Persian Gulf as part of the force that put Marines ashore in southern Iraq. Bataan was not a carrier in the traditional sense, but she carried aircraft and Marines and the ability to project combat power from the sea, and in the opening weeks of Operation Iraqi Freedom, she used all of it.
The Ship
USS Bataan (LHD-5) is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, commissioned on September 20, 1997, and named for the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines, site of the famous 1942 death march. She is homeported at Naval Station Norfolk and is one of the Navy's large-deck amphibious ships — capable of carrying a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) with its associated aircraft, vehicles, and equipment, and putting them ashore via landing craft, helicopters, or a combination of both. Bataan can operate AV-8B Harrier jump jets, CH-46 Sea Knight and CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters, and the full range of Marine Corps aviation assets.
The 2003 Deployment
Bataan deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in early 2003, joining the massive naval force assembling in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. She embarked the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (26th MEU) and operated as part of the amphibious task force that supported the coalition ground campaign. The threat of an amphibious assault along Iraq's short coastline — less than 40 miles of access to the Persian Gulf — was a factor in Iraqi defensive planning, tying down forces that might otherwise have reinforced positions further inland.
The Amphibious Mission
The 26th MEU embarked on Bataan brought with it the full combined arms capability that modern Marine expeditionary units carry: infantry, artillery, light armor, combat engineers, reconnaissance units, and an aviation combat element capable of close air support, assault support, and command and control. The MEU's ground combat element went ashore in southern Iraq in support of coalition operations, while Bataan's aviation assets flew missions in support of ground forces.
Amphibious operations in 2003 were different from the classic World War II beach assaults that the imagery of amphibious warfare conjures. There were no Normandy-style opposed landings; instead, the amphibious force enabled rapid force projection ashore, provided logistics support, and maintained the threat of additional landings that complicated Iraqi defensive planning. The ships offshore were as much a chess piece as a weapons system.
Life Aboard
A Wasp-class ship at full combat load is a small city: over 3,000 personnel including crew and embarked Marines, operating in a ship with multiple flight decks, a well deck for landing craft, vehicle storage areas, and the full logistics infrastructure needed to sustain a Marine expeditionary unit for sustained operations. The tempo of combat operations is compressed and intense — flight operations, boat operations, maintenance, planning, and the constant administrative machinery of a ship at war, all happening simultaneously in the same steel hull.
If you served aboard USS Bataan or want to honor someone who did, browse the full Bataan collection in the store.
Legacy
Bataan has continued to serve in the years since OIF, deploying to multiple theaters and embarking multiple Marine units for exercises and combat deployments. Her 2003 deployment is part of the larger story of how amphibious forces contributed to OIF — a contribution that is sometimes overshadowed by the Army and Marine ground campaign but was essential to the coalition's ability to operate across the full spectrum of the battlefield, from the Persian Gulf coast to the outskirts of Baghdad.