A pair of distinguished and retired warships long associated with San Diego will soon be attacked and sunk off Hawaii to teach sailors critical combat skills in the ever changing world of naval warfare, according to the Navy.
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The sinkings will be part of Rim of the Pacific 2026, a biennial military exercise involving about 30 nations and 25,000 personnel. The event will begin June 24 and last until the end of July.
The date of the sinkings, and the manner in which they will be carried out, have yet to be announced.
But the Navy told the Union-Tribune that it will destroy the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu and the cruiser USS Mobile Bay. Both operated out of San Diego for more than 20 years, and both were decommissioned in the city.
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Peleliu is a 820-foot “mini” aircraft carrier that spent its career deploying Marines to dangerous and distant places. It became famous in military circles for launching a daring mission into Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Helicopters from the Peleliu transported 500 Marines from Camp Pendleton’s 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit nearly 400 miles inland, enabling them to set up a forward operating base in Afghanistan’s southern desert. It is the longest amphibious and air deployment in the history of the Marines.
The 567-foot Mobile Bay has been widely praised for its role in Operation Desert Storm, the U.S. led effort to drive Iraq out of Kuwait in 1991. The cruiser managed four aircraft carriers, and it used its Aegis combat system to help the U.S. take command of the skies.
