She is capable of amphibious assault, advance force, and special purpose operations, as well as evacuation and humanitarian assistance.

[3] Bataan enables the Navy and Marine Corps team to seamlessly transition from the sea to a land battle, as the lead ship and centerpiece of an Amphibious Ready Group (ARG).

[4] The ship is capable of amphibious assault, advance force, and special purpose operations, as well as evacuation and humanitarian assistance.

The Bataan ARG delivered more than 2,500 Marines and their equipment to Pakistan, with the aim to enter Afghanistan, thus opening Operation Enduring Freedom.

The Bataan ARG stayed on station off the coast of Pakistan and completed the longest sustained amphibious assault in U.S. history, with sailors not touching ground for over four months as they marched nearly 700 nautical miles into Afghanistan.

[7] In September 2008, Bataan participated in the HURREX exercise where the U.S. Second Fleet directed tests designed to evaluate the ship's ability to respond to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief needs during the 2008 hurricane season.

She was ordered to be prepared to deploy in the event that the Navy was directed to provide assistance to civilian authorities after Hurricane Gustav came ashore.

[8] In June 2008, the UK-based human rights organization Reprieve issued a report that listed Bataan as one of up to 17 ships they believed were used to imprison terrorism suspects.

[14] The Bataan served as a operations center for activities in the Persian Gulf after the assassination of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

[20][21] In January 2024 during the Red Sea crisis one of the Harriers was modified for air defense; its pilot Captain Ehrhart is reported to have shot down seven Houthi suicide attack drones.