DATE: Tuesday, September 30, 1997           TAG: 9709300275

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

                                            LENGTH:   18 lines

A WARM WELCOME HOME

BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Part of the 990-member crew of the new amphibious assault ship

Bataan, above, peers out from the ship after its arrival Monday

morning at Norfolk Naval Base. At 844 feet long, with a 106-foot

beam, the freshly commissioned warship is eclipsed in size only by

aircraft carriers. At left, 10-year-old Jim McAloon waves as an F-14

Tomcat squadron flies in formation over Oceana upon its return from

a six-month Pacific deployment. McAloon's father, in the lead plane,

is commander of the squadron.

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