After decades tied to San Diego’s waterfront, two of the city’s most recognizable warships are headed for a final mission that ends on the ocean floor. The U.S. Navy plans to sink the retired amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu and the guided‑missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay off Hawaii as live‑fire targets during a multinational training series, a move that severs long ties between both ships and the city.
Navy’s plan appears in official shipbuilding documents
According to the Navy's May 2026 shipbuilding plan, both ex‑Peleliu (LHA‑5) and ex‑Mobile Bay (CG‑53) are listed among decommissioned vessels slated for use as targets in sinking exercises that will support major training events such as Rim of the Pacific and Valiant Shield, per the Navy Shipbuilding Plan (May 2026). The appendix notes that CNO guidelines authorize SINKEX events when they are needed for weapons‑lethality evaluations or to support major multinational exercises.
Tugs, tow routes and Barking Sands
Federal procurement records show the Military Sealift Command has solicited U.S.‑flag ocean tugs capable of towing the ex‑Mobile Bay from the Navy's inactive‑ships facility in Bremerton and the ex‑Peleliu from Pearl Harbor to the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, Kauai, according to a SAM.gov solicitation. The posting spells out tow equipment, inspection requirements and minimum speeds, the kind of detailed logistics paperwork that typically precedes a SINKEX.
Mobile Bay’s San Diego service
The Mobile Bay is a 567‑foot Ticonderoga‑class guided‑missile cruiser that served more than 36 years and supported operations including Operation Desert Storm; the ship held a decommissioning ceremony in San Diego in August 2023, according to U.S. Navy imagery. The cruiser spent decades homeported in San Diego before being placed in inactive status and listed for final disposition in Navy planning documents.
Peleliu’s long career
Peleliu, a Tarawa‑class amphibious assault ship roughly 820 feet long, was decommissioned in San Diego in March 2015 and has been held in reserve, per Navy archival photos and records. Local reporting also notes Peleliu carried Marines on high‑tempo post‑Sept. 11 deployments, including missions that moved hundreds of troops long distances ashore, and that some of its cruises rank among the Marine Corps' longest amphibious and air deployments, according to The San Diego Union‑Tribune.
What SINKEXs test and who watches
The Navy says sinking exercises give fleets rare opportunities to test full‑scale weapon effects and new tactics against real hulls, and those operations are specifically authorized in Navy planning documents. Federal regulatory filings and Marine Fisheries notices also require mitigation and monitoring, including passive acoustic monitoring for marine mammals and other protections during explosives and live‑fire evolutions, according to recent federal notices about military readiness activities.
Timeline and next steps
Neither the Navy nor local officials have published exact dates or the weapons that will be used in the planned sinkings; the Navy has not disclosed the date or manner of the events, per The San Diego Union‑Tribune. With tugs being solicited and both ships already named in Navy plans, the next public steps will include permit filings, environmental consultations and a formal exercise schedule from Pacific Fleet, items that will determine when these two San Diego hulls finally meet the sea floor.
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