F-35s, 3 Amphib Warships, 2,500 Marines Operating Closer to Iran; Nimitz Reaches Edge of the South China Sea
By: Sam LaGrone
February 4, 2021 12:17 PM
The three-ship Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, the 2,500 Marines of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters have taken position in U.S. 5th Fleet in the North Arabian sea and are an easy sail to the Strait of Hormuz, USNI News has learned.
Amphibious warships USS Makin Island (LHD-8), USS San Diego (LPD-22) and USS Somerset (LPD-25) have moved into the same maritime territory the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group had occupied since last week, a U.S. 5th Fleet spokesperson confirmed to USNI News on Thursday.
Earlier this week, the trio of warships and Marines had been operating off the Horn of Africa under the direction of U.S. 6th Fleet. Since late December, the ARG and Marines were supporting Operation Octave Quartz, the operation to relocate 700 troops from Somalia to other parts of the continent. The Nimitz CSG and the Crete-based expeditionary sea base USS Hershel “Woody†Williams also supported the AFRICOM mission. As part of Octave Quartz, the F-35s from the 15th MEU performed armed flights over Somalia. Makin Island, Somerset and San Diego departed the West Coast in October to complete final certification exercises ahead of a deployment that commenced in mid-November.
https://news.usni.org/2021/02/04/f-35s-3-amphib-warships-2500-marines-operating-closer-to-iran-nimitz-reaches-edge-of-the-south-china-sea
