The USS Tarawa — a venerable, decommissioned amphibious assault ship that was a fixture in San Diego for decades — was sunk by a missile as a part of war games off Hawaii on Friday, the Navy said.
The 820-foot Tarawa was destroyed by an anti-ship missile fired by the HMAS Sydney, an Australian warship participating in Rim of the Pacific, an exercise that involves 29 nations and 25,000 personnel.
The U.S. Navy said that a long-range anti-ship missile fired by a Navy F/A Super Hornet also contributed to the sinking, which occurred in deep water 50 miles off the island of Kauai.
“Sinking exercises give us a chance to sharpen our skills, learn from one another, and get real-world experience,” Navy Vice Adm. John Wade said in a statement.
The Tarawa — named for a famous battle during World War II — was commissioned in Mississippi in 1976 and made its way to San Diego, which it would call home for much of its nearly 33-year service life. It was a first-in-class assault ship that signaled the Navy’s growing ability to deliver Marines and aircraft around the world.
Tarawa captured a lot of attention in early 1991 for the role it played in putting Marines ashore in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War.
The ship returned to the spotlight in late 2000 when it helped the destroyer USS Cole — the target of a deadly terrorist attack in Yemen — return to the U.S. for repairs. Tarawa later sailed to Middle East to participate in the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Plans to turn Tarawa into a West Coast museum ship did not come to pass.
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