Operation Shining Express was the July 2003 deployment of an American naval task force based around the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) to rescue U.S. embassy personnel and American citizens during the Second Liberian Civil War. The deployment was announced on June 13, 2003 and lasted until July 2003. It followed the successful 1990 rescue effort in Liberia, Operation Sharp Edge.