Tug boats assist the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) as it gets underway to participate in Hurricane Exercise 08-002. Vice Adm. Mel Williams Jr., commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet, ordered Bataan to get underway to demonstrate at-sea readiness for disaster response if called upon to perform this mission. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Moises M. Medel/Released)The multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) pulled into its homeport of Norfolk, Sept. 11 following a successful underway when the ship completed a four day Hurricane Exercise (HURREX 08-002) and landing qualifications for pilots from Marine Attack Squadron (VMA) 542 and Marine Medium Tilt-rotor Squadron (VMM) 263.
Bataan sortied Sept. 2 to perform the HURREX, which enabled the ship and crew to demonstrate at-sea readiness for disaster response. Following the exercise, the ship remained at sea to conduct training with embarked squadrons.
"This was a valuable time for us at sea," said Capt. Rick Snyder, Bataan's commanding officer. "Not only did we conduct training in all aspects of providing relief following a natural disaster, we were able to give the crew a head start coordinating and training with the Marine aviators who will embark next year for deployment."
Initial daytime landing qualifications for AV-8B Harrier pilots from VMA-542 and initial night-vision device landing qualifications for MV-22 Osprey pilots from VMM-263 is an important step in their pre-deployment training.
"We have guys who have been to [Operation Iraqi Freedom] three times, but some of them have never been a part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit," said Marine Corps Maj. Johnny Widener, safety officer for VMA-542. "Landing on a ship is one of the most dangerous things that we do, and we're making sure we're proficient in doing so."
Embarked squadrons included equipment and personnel from Commander Amphibious Squadron 2, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 22, Tactical Squadron 21, Fleet Surgical Team 6, Assault Craft Unit (ACU) 2, ACU 4, Beachmaster Unit 2, VMA-452 and VMM-263.
Bataan is the fifth ship of the Navy's Wasp-class ships. She was commissioned Sept. 20, 1997, and is the second U.S. Navy warship to bear the name. CVL-29 was an Independence-class small aircraft carrier that was commissioned in November 1943. After serving in both World War II and the Korean conflict, CVL-29 was decommissioned in 1954.