GC-built Peleliu decommissioned

The Navy decommissioned the “Iron Nickel” amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu (LHA-5) March 31 in San Diego. There were more than 100 former crew members and 10 COs at the ceremony. The Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship was built by the Gulf Coast’s Ingalls Shipbuilding, now Huntington Ingalls Inc., in Pascagoula, Miss. The LHA served for more than 34 years and carried the first Marines into Afghanistan following 9/11. Peleliu will be moved to Pearl Harbor to join America’s inactive reserve fleet, but although to be in “mothballs,” the ship could be recalled to active service. Peleliu was commissioned in May 1980 and was the last of five in the Tarawa class of general-purpose amphibs. (Source: San Diego Union-Tribune 04/01/15)