In service, the USS Tarawa saw her first active deployment in 1979 when assisting in a search & rescue operation in the South China Sea and later was called to support UN operations in and around Beirut, Lebanon. She participated actively in 1990 Operation Desert Storm and the next year was offering humanitarian assistance for Bangladesh. The USS Tarawa then was part of enforcing the no-fly zone over Southern Iraq and offered security in the Gulf after the terrorist attack on the USS Cole. Since then, she has made several more deployments that included assisting in both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom among other global stops.
The USS Tarawa was ordered in 1969 and laid down in 1971 by Ingalls Shipbuilding. She was launched in 1973 and commissioned in 1976. The vessel is named in honor of the Tarawa Atoll, the site of US Marine landings in the Second World War. As of this writing, the USS Tarawa is in active service with the United States Navy. She operates under the motto of "Eagle of the Sea" and is known affectionately as the "Big T".
Content ©MilitaryFactory.com; No Reproduction Permitted.
