When Operation Iraqi Freedom began in March 2003, USS Peleliu (LHA-5) and the Marines of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit were already in position. The Peleliu ARG — the amphibious ready group built around her — had been forward-deployed to the North Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf as part of the massive coalition buildup, and when the order came, the Marines and sailors of Peleliu's ARG executed the amphibious and air assault operations that were their part of the campaign. Peleliu was the ship that brought a Marine Expeditionary Unit to the opening of the most significant American military operation since Desert Storm, and her crew and embarked Marines performed the mission they had trained for across years of WestPac deployments and pre-deployment exercises.
The Ship
USS Peleliu (LHA-5) is a Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship, commissioned on May 3, 1980, and named for the Battle of Peleliu — the September–November 1944 assault on the Peleliu atoll in the Palau Islands, one of the most bitterly contested battles of the Pacific War, where the Marine Corps and Army units that fought there suffered enormous casualties against a Japanese defense that had been fortified deep inside coral caves. The battle's utility has been debated by historians, but the courage of the Marines who fought it has not. USS Peleliu carries that name with the weight it deserves. She was homeported at San Diego, California.
The 2003 OIF Deployment
Peleliu deployed with the 15th MEU in the lead-up to Operation Iraqi Freedom, part of the amphibious force that the coalition positioned in the theater during the pre-war buildup. The MEU brought with it the Marine infantry, aviation, and logistics assets to conduct a range of operations — from amphibious assault to raids to humanitarian assistance. When OIF began, elements of the 15th MEU participated in the seizure of the Al Faw Peninsula and operations in southern Iraq that secured key terrain and infrastructure in the opening days of the campaign.
For Peleliu's crew, the OIF deployment was the operational validation of the training pipeline that sustains the amphibious force — the workups, the rehearsals, the certification exercises that the ship and the embarked MEU complete before deployment. The Navy and Marine Corps team that makes an amphibious ready group function is built over months of integrated training, and the crew of Peleliu and the Marines of the 15th MEU had done that work. When the operation began, they were ready.
The Amphibious Force in OIF
The 2003 Iraq War was not primarily an amphibious campaign — the main ground assault came overland through Kuwait — but the amphibious force's role in the early days of the war was significant. The seizure of the Al Faw Peninsula, the securing of the Rumaylah oil fields, and the operations along the Shatt al-Arab waterway all involved Marines who came from ships. Peleliu and her ARG were part of that effort, projecting Marine power ashore at a moment when speed and the ability to operate from the sea mattered.
If you served aboard USS Peleliu or want to honor someone who did, browse the full Peleliu collection — cruise shirts, license plate frames, and more.
Legacy
USS Peleliu was decommissioned on March 31, 2015, after thirty-five years of service. Her career spanned the end of the Cold War, the Gulf War, and two decades of post-Cold War operations including OIF and humanitarian missions in the Pacific. The ship named for one of the war's most costly battles served with the professionalism that the Marines who fought at Peleliu in 1944 would have recognized — rigorous, persistent, and competent in the specific skills that amphibious operations require.