USS IWO JIMA (LHD-7) 1/700 SCALE WOOD MODEL SHIP IS NOW IN STOCK AND READY TO SHIP DIRECT FROM OUR CALIFORNIA WAREHOUSE!

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USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7) is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship.

The ship's motto, "Uncommon Valor," is based on Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz's words when he spoke eloquently of Sailors and Marines who fought at Iwo Jima: "Among the Americans who served on Iwo Island uncommon valor was a common virtue."

Fabrication work for Iwo Jima began at Ingalls shipyard on September 3, 1996, and the ship's keel was laid on December 12, 1997. She was launched on February 4, 2000. USS Iwo Jima was christened by her sponsor, Mrs. Zandra Krulak, wife of General Charles C. Krulak, the former Commandant of the Marine Corps, in Pascagoula, Mississippi on March 25, 2000. The commissioning crew moved aboard in April 2001, and made the ship's maiden voyage (accompanied by more than 2,000 World War II veterans—many of them survivors of the Battle of Iwo Jima) on June 23, 2001. She was commissioned a week later in Pensacola, Florida, on June 30, 2001.

Shortly thereafter, the ship and crew began an accelerated Inter Deployment Training Cycle, which tested virtually every system onboard in realistic combat conditions. Iwo Jima was also the first ship on the waterfront open to the public after the terrorist attacks of September 11.