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View Full Version : Military ships on the move. Where?


I'm all 67X
May 11th, 2008, 02:54 PM
Newspaper reports military mum on destination of 6-ship convoy
Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Tuesday, May 6, 2008

On Sunday, 5,500 sailors and Marines left San Diego on a six-ship convoy, though no one would say where they were headed, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

In a brief news conference, Navy Capt. Jonathan Padfield said he had not been told the ships’ destination, the Union-Tribune reported. Padfield said the deployment was a regular rotation, and the group was going as the Peleliu Expeditionary Strike Group.

Led by the amphibious assault ship Peleliu, the convoy comprises the amphibious ships Pearl Harbor and Dubuque, the cruiser Cape St. George and the destroyers Halsey and Benfold, the paper wrote.

On board were Marines from the Camp Pendleton-based 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which took part in the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, 2004 tsunami relief efforts in Indonesia and additional tours in Iraq, according to the report.

The Marines were joined by aviators from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21 and Helicopter Anti-submarine Squadron Light 45, both based at North Island Naval Air Station. Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 166 at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station also went along.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=61942&archive=true

twinkle
May 11th, 2008, 06:47 PM
hmmm...been kinda waiting all day to catch an update. Guess no one knows anything. :scratch I know I sure don't.

Whitecorvette
May 11th, 2008, 06:50 PM
USS Cole returning to Lebanon. See my thread at Mideast and Israel News

kenny1659
May 12th, 2008, 07:44 AM
:idunno I saw a blurb that Burma was finally letting in American disaster relief. Maybe that is where they are headed.:thinking

HumbledbyHislove
May 12th, 2008, 01:42 PM
I was stationed on board the USS Peleliu for 5 years in the early 90's and went on two deployments (one during the Persian Gulf war). We never had an escort of a cruiser and 2 destroyers, not even when we went to the Persian Gulf. Of course, things change, but this seems unusual to me. The only reason you would have the surface warships would be for the (cruise missiles?) firepower and defense against submarines. You certainly don't need that for humanitarian efforts, and the Peleliu performed several humanitarian missions while I was on board without any other warships. A typical task force in my day included a supply ship, the main amphibious assault ship and 3-4 smaller amphibious assault ships.

And for them to say that they don’t know the destination of the warships is not normal either. Deployments are well planned in advance, and typically, they are replacing a task force already in place. If this is the case, they would know which task force they were replacing and would have stated this.

It seems like a large show of force, for a typical 6 month deployment. Just my 2 cents though....