Named for the pivotal 1944 Pacific battle, the Saipan served as one of the Atlantic Fleet's primary amphibious assault ships from her commissioning in 1977 through her retirement in 2007. She deployed to the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, always ready to put Marines ashore at a moment's notice. Smaller than the later LHDs, she was still a formidable platform that the Marine Corps counted on through the Cold War and beyond. Her crew and the Marines who sailed with her remember her with pride.