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The Bataan enjoyed a 3 day visit here, hope all the wives and girlfriends like their pearls.

About Bataan


USS BATAAN memorializes the valiant resistance of American and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula in the dawning days of World War II. Fighting on the Philippine Islands of Luzon and Corregidor began just 10 short hours after the raid on Pearl Harbor. After weeks of Japanese air raids and beach landings on the north of Luzon, General Douglas MacArthur ordered withdrawal from the fortified north to the narrow jungle peninsula December 23, 1941. There, combined Army, Navy, Marine Corps and American-trained Filipino forces opposed teeming Japanese aggressors.

Despite rampant disease, malnutrition, insufficient supplies and ammunition, the “Battling Bastards of Bataan” defended the peninsula until April 16, 1942. Corregidor fell shortly after on May 6, 1942. During combat, some units absorbed as high as 80 percent casualties. Tens of thousands of American service members died either in battle or during the unconscionable “Bataan Death March.” The 65-mile “Death March” alone claimed the lives of more than 21,000 allies in less than a week and is marked as one of the greatest travesties of World War II. Those who survived the march faced starvation and disease aboard “hell ships” during transportation and later in prison camps until Japan's formal surrender in 1945. Two of every three Americans who defended Bataan and Corregidor never returned home.

Bataan was the last American stronghold in the Pacific theater to fall until MacArthur fulfilled his famed prophecy, “I shall return,” by reconquering the Philippine Islands two-and-one-half years later. The battle of Bataan and ensuing “Death March” are widely regarded as one of the greatest examples of allied courage, endurance and sacrifice in the history of military conflict.

USS BATAAN (LHD 5) was commissioned September 20, 1997. BATAAN is the fifth ship in the WASP class of United States Navy multipurpose amphibious assault ships. The mission of BATAAN is to enable the Navy and Marine Corps team to accomplish a seamless transition “….from the sea” to the land battle, originally as the lead ship of an Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG) and now as the centerpiece of an Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG). While a multi-mission ARG was capable of amphibious assault, advance force, and special purpose operations, as well as non-combatant evacuation and other humanitarian missions, the ESG also incorporates surface combatants to increase the group's anti-air warfare and land attack capabilities.

LHDs embark, transport, deploy, command and fully support all elements of a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) of 2,000 Marines, inserting forces ashore via helicopters, landing craft and amphibious vehicles. The WASP class ships are the first ships specifically designed to utilize landing craft air-cushion vehicles (LCACs) for assault. LHDs can accommodate the full range of Navy and Marine Corps helicopters, conventional landing craft and amphibious vehicles, along with all of the tanks, vehicles, artillery, ammunition and other supplies necessary to fully support the assault force. The WASP class ships were also specifically designed to carry a squadron of Harrier II (AV-8B) V/STOL (Vertical Short Take Off and Landing) jets for operational support and will be capable of carrying and supporting the MV-22 Osprey and the Marine Joint Strike Fighter when they are introduced into the fleet.

For combat support, as well as non-combatant evacuation and other humanitarian missions, LHDs have hospital facilities second only to the Navy's hospital ships, including six fully-equipped medical operating rooms, and hospital facilities capable of caring for as many as 600 patients.

BATAAN is 844 feet long, with a beam of 106 feet. Her well deck is 267 feet long and capable of holding three LCACs. Two steam propulsion plants, developing a combined 70,000 horsepower, drive the 40,500-ton ship in excess of 20 knots. The ship's living areas can accommodate approximately 3,200 crewmembers and embarked troops.

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