USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) - Deployments

Deployments

• Operation Southern Watch (24 January 2000 to 24 July 2000)- First (WESTPAC) deployment of US naval ships in the 2000s.
• Operation Enduring Freedom (1 December 2001 to 18 June 2002)
• Operation Iraqi Freedom (17 January 2003 to 26 July 2003)
  • Bonhomme Richard played two significant roles in Operation Iraqi Freedom. First, it offloaded more than 1,000 Marines and gear from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines into Kuwait. Then after delivering her attack and transport helicopters, troops, and vehicles she took up position just miles off the coast of Kuwait and became one of two Harrier Carriers along with USS Bataan (LHD-5) in the Persian Gulf—launching AV-8B Harrier strike aircraft into Iraq. Pilots from Marine Attack Squadrons 211 and 311, embarked aboard Bonhomme Richard, expended more than 175,000 pounds (79,000 kg) of ordnance, providing close air support to the Marines on the ground and during predetermined strikes in Iraq. During Operation Iraqi Freedom the Bonhomme Richard launched more than 800 sorties, including 547 combat launches.
• Operation Iraqi Freedom (6 December 2004 to TBD) Detached to Sri Lanka to provide support for relief efforts following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and its subsequent tsunamis. On 4 January 2005: Helping airlift relief supplies to the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
• Operation Unified Assistance (5 January 2005 to February 2005) On a port visit in Guam on 28 December, Bonhomme Richard and her expeditionary strike group were ordered to the Indian Ocean to help in relief efforts following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Her helicopters flew supplies and medical personnel into various areas of Indonesia, as well as evacuating the wounded.
• RIMPAC 2006, July 2006. Maneuvers in the Kaulakahi Channel (between Kauai and Niihau Islands, Hawaii), near PMRF.
• (23 May 2007 to November 2007) Joined with two carrier groups (John C. Stennis and Nimitz) off the coast of Iran to carry out previously unannounced air and sea exercises.
• RIMPAC 2008, July 2008. Maneuvers in the Kaulakahi Channel (between Kauai and Niihau Islands, Hawaii), near PMRF.
• WESTPAC September 2009 to April 2010. Deployed to the Fifth and Seventh Fleet areas of operations. Ports of call include East Timor, Phuket, Thailand, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Oahu, Hawaii.
• RIMPAC 2010, July 2010. Maneuvers in the Kaulakahi Channel (between Kauai and Niihau Islands, Hawaii) near PMRF
• Home port moved to Sasebo, Japan in 2012 as part of a hull swap with the USS Essex.