USS Bataan (LHD-5) Ship's Crest Mug

Commissioned September 20, 1997, USS Bataan (LHD-5) honors the defenders of Bataan — the American and Filipino soldiers and sailors who held the Philippines against overwhelming Japanese forces through months of brutal fighting in early 1942 before being overwhelmed in one of the costliest campaigns of World War II. A Wasp-class amphibious assault ship and centerpiece of her amphibious ready group, Bataan has served from Norfolk for nearly three decades, projecting Marine combat power to crisis zones from the Persian Gulf to the Adriatic and beyond.