100 Marines, Sailors Ready to Ride Commercial Ships in Zone Defense Against Iran
By: Gidget Fuentes
August 11, 2023 7:20 PM
A force of 100 Marines, newly trained by Navy personnel, stand ready to respond, if ordered, to provide armed security aboard foreign commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, USNI has learned.
The Marines are members of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) embarked on the three-ship Bataan Amphibious Ready Group. They were flown off the ships in Europe and arrived in Bahrain for training as ship security teams, and additional teams of sailors already deployed or stationed in the U.S. Central Command region were undergoing the training, said a U.S. official familiar with the plans.
“We have more than 100 Marines on the ground in Bahrain. Many of them have already gone through and completed the training,” the official said. “They’ve informed me that they make up several teams and they are ready to go, if directed to do so.”
Training began ahead of the Aug. 6 arrival of the big-deck amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5) and dock landing ship USS Carter Hall (LSD-50) in Bahrain. USS Mesa Verde (LPD-19), the third ship in the Bataan ARG remains in Europe.
https://news.usni.org/2023/08/11/100-marines-sailors-ready-to-ride-commercial-ships-in-zone-defense-against-iran