The name Bonhomme Richard carries one of the most resonant stories in American naval history — it was the name of John Paul Jones's flagship at the Battle of Flamborough Head in 1779, the ship from which he delivered the most famous line in the history of the United States Navy: “I have not yet begun to fight.” The modern ship bearing that name, USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6), was commissioned on August 16, 1998, and she carried that legacy into the 21st century's first major war. When Operation Iraqi Freedom began in March 2003, Bonhomme Richard and her embarked Marines were part of the amphibious force that gave the coalition its sea-based strike capability in the northern Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea.
The Ship
USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship — the sixth of eight ships in the class, built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Like her sisters, she is 843 feet long, displaces nearly 41,000 tons at full load, and can embark a Marine Expeditionary Unit of approximately 1,900 Marines along with their equipment, vehicles, and aviation assets. Her well deck can launch LCAC hovercraft for over-the-horizon assault operations, and her flight deck can operate the full range of Marine aviation — AV-8B Harrier IIs, CH-46 Sea Knights, CH-53 Sea Stallions, UH-1Ys, and AH-1W Super Cobras. She is, in the terminology of naval architecture, a “big deck amphibious” — the sea-control and power-projection capability of an aircraft carrier combined with the landing capacity of a traditional amphibious ship.
The 2003 Deployment
Bonhomme Richard deployed from her homeport of San Diego as part of the Amphibious Task Force (ATF) that assembled in the Persian Gulf and northern Arabian Sea prior to the opening of OIF. The 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (15th MEU) was embarked, and together they formed a floating force that gave operational planners a credible amphibious option along the Iraqi coastline. The threat of an amphibious assault — even one that was never executed in force — tied down Iraqi defensive resources and complicated the enemy's planning. The Marines aboard Bonhomme Richard were ready to go ashore. The existence of that readiness had strategic value independent of whether the order came.
The ship's aviation detachment flew continuously in support of coalition operations. AV-8B Harriers conducted close air support missions for ground forces. Helicopters provided logistics support, personnel transport, and casualty evacuation. The medical facilities aboard — a Bonhomme Richard has far more medical capability than a conventional surface combatant — treated casualties from the combat zone. The crew that kept all of this running numbered in the hundreds, operating systems that ranged from nuclear-adjacent engineering (conventional propulsion in BHR's case) to advanced communications and weapons systems, all simultaneously.
The Name and Its Weight
Sailors who serve aboard a ship named Bonhomme Richard carry a particular weight of history. John Paul Jones fought and won in a ship that was literally sinking around him — Bonhomme Richard was on fire and taking water when Jones made his famous declaration, and she sank two days after the battle. The modern ship bearing her name carries that tradition of fighting through impossible conditions into every deployment. Whether the men and women of the 2003 cruise thought about it in those terms or not, they served aboard a ship whose name means something specific: that when the situation is worst, you have not yet begun to fight.
If you served aboard USS Bonhomme Richard or any amphib in the fleet, browse the amphibious ship collection at The Ship's Store — gear honoring the gators and the Marines who sailed on them.