USS Bataan (LHD-5) is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship in the United States Navy. The ship is named after the Battle of Bataan, fought in the Philippines during World War II. The ship enables the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps team to seamlessly transition from the sea to a land battle, as the lead ship and centerpiece of an Amphibious Ready Group. She is capable of amphibious assault, advance force, and special purpose operations, as well as evacuation and humanitarian assistance. The ship effected the 2020 targeted killing of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the commander of the Quds Force, which is designated a terrorist organization by the United States.
USS Bataan underway in 1999
Sailors assigned to Bataan assist in the unfolding of a flag that was flying over the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001, during a ceremony in 2008
USMC M327 mortar air lifted onto Bataan's deck by MH-60S Seahawk on 7 June 2006
Gulf of Oman, (15 December 2011). A firefighting team enters a smoke-filled room to extinguish a mock fire during a general quarters drill aboard Bataan
Wasp-class amphibious assault ship
The Wasp-class is a class of landing helicopter dock (LHD) amphibious assault ships operated by the United States Navy. Based on the Tarawa class, with modifications to operate more advanced aircraft and landing craft, the Wasp-class is capable of transporting almost the full strength of a United States Marine Corps Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), and landing them in hostile territory via landing craft or helicopters as well as providing air support via AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft or F-35B Lightning II stealth strike-fighters. All Wasp-class ships were built by Ingalls Shipbuilding, at Pascagoula, Mississippi, with the lead ship, USS Wasp, commissioned on 29 July 1989. Eight Wasp-class ships were built, and as of April 2021, seven are in active service, as USS Bonhomme Richard was seriously damaged by fire on 12 July 2020, and subsequently decommissioned in April 2021.
USS Wasp on 4 October 2007
Wasp, left, and Tarawa-class Saipan, in 1993.
USS Essex performing a stern gate mating with a landing craft
Air traffic control aboard the USS Wasp