5th Fleet Focus: Order of Battle

Order of Battle in the 5th Fleet Area of Responsibility.

The Enterprise Carrier Strike Group

USS Enterprise (CVN 65)
USS Gettysburg (CG 64)
USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51)
USS Stout (DDG 55)
USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98)
USS James E. Williams (DDG 95)
USS Philadelphia (SSN 690)


Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group

USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6)
USS Denver (LPD 9)
USS Rushmore (LSD 47)
USS Milius (DDG 69)
USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93)
USS Chosin (CG 65)


Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group

USS Kearsarge (LHD 3)
USS Ponce (LPD 15)
USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44)
USS Vicksburg (CG 69)
USS Porter (DDG 78)
USS Carr (FFG 52)
USS Miami (SSN 755)


Task Force 150

FGS Köln (F211)
FS Commandant Blaison (F793)
FS Dupleix (D 641)
PNS Tippu Sultan (D 185)
USS Carter Hill (LSD 50)


In Theater

Ocean 6
HMS Richmond (F 239)
JDS Suzunami (DD114)
HMAS Anzac (F 150)
USS Scout (MCM 8)
USS Gladiator (MCM 11)
USS Ardent (MCM 12)
USS Dexterous (MCM 13)
HMS Ramsay (M 110)
HMS Blyth (M 111)

Photos this week courtesy of the 5th Fleet. Click the first photo to its larger size and you can see Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 6 to the right of the explosion. Nice photo if you ask me.

PANAMAX 2007 Begins

As the USS Wasp (LHD 1) is preparing for its deployment to ferry 10 MV-22 Osprey of VMM-263 to Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, I'd first like to ask whoever puts out press releases not to give out locations of bases in Iraq with your announcements. I understand you are excited the MV-22 actually works, but telling everyone on the planet where it works isn't helping.

Before she deploys to the Middle East, the USS Wasp (LHD 1) is taking part in Panamax 2007.

PANAMAX sea, air and land forces will promote interoperability to counter threats to the waterway through maritime interdiction operations, mine countermeasures and visit, board, search and seizure procedures. Simultaneously, land-based training at Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras will focus on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations, among other missions.

“The time for planning is done,” said Ortiz, as he spoke amongst the flags of the nations in PANAMAX. “Now we execute.”

The U.S. Navy has sent USS Wasp (LHD 1) to lead the naval armada, along with USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52), USS Mitscher (DDG 57), and USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 58). The USCGC Thetis (WMEC 910) will join the maritime force along with ships from the navies of participating nations.

The participating nations are Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Panama, Peru, the United States and Uruguay.

Three other nations will act as observers: El Salvador, Mexico and Paraguay.

It is unclear if the USS Wasp (LHD 1) will be replacing the USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) which departed on April 10th earlier this year. There are already 2 ESGs currently operating in the 5th Fleet area of operations with the entire Kearsarge ESG transiting the Suez Canal this past Monday. The US Navy has operated 3 Strike Groups almost consistently in the Gulf since formulating the Fleet Response Plan, mostly with the makeup of 2 ESGs and 1 CSG, but since 2005 the Navy has also operated an individual expeditionary ship somewhere near the Horn of Africa. With the delays to the USS San Antonio (LPD 17), the sale of the USS Trenton (LPD 14), the retirement of the USS Saipan (LHA 2), and the upcoming Global Fleet Station deployment of the USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43), I think she will stay in the region.

6th Fleet Focus: Actions Deserve Reactions

Last Sunday I pondered how the US might respond to all the activity in Georgia with the Russians throwing some intimidation their way. I got my answer today.

The USS Donald Cook, a guided missile destroyer, will make a port call in Batumi, on Georgia’s Black Sea coast, next week, the U.S. embassy in Tbilisi said on August 31.

Several joint training events with the Georgian Coast Guard and the Georgian Navy, involving boarding ships and at-sea exercises, are planned.

The USS Donald Cook, which was involved in Tomahawk strikes on Iraq, is also equipped with two vertical launching systems for Standard missiles, Harpoon missile launchers and torpedoes.

Another U.S. destroyer, Sullivans, made a port call in Batumi in late April, 2007.

Very well done.

7th Fleet Focus: A Party Worth Attending

You know, the US Navy sent one ship and the US Coast Guard sent one ship to the 200th anniversary of The Battle of Trafalgar. Just a bit of perspective when you read this.

More than 7,000 navy personnel from France, United States, Japan and New Zealand are here to share in Malaysia's 50th Merdeka celebration on Friday.

Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) Chief Admiral Tan Sri Ramlan Mohamed Ali said they arrived in 10 warships, which berthed here since Tuesday for the occassion.

"Some came on their own initiative to witness our Merdeka celebration, which is a special one this year.

"Never in history has RMN received so many warships here for the Merdeka celebration," he told reporters after a function to fete the foreign navy personnel here Thursday.

The ships which will be here until Sept 3 include the supply ship FNS VAR and patrol frigate FNS NIVOSE from France and four from the United States comprising the USS Kitty Hawk and USS Cowpens carriers and two destroyers, USS Curtis Wilbur and USS Martin.

Three others are from Japan comprising training ships JDS Kashima and JDS Shimayuki and a destroyer, JDS Sawagiri, and another is from New Zealand, the HMNZS Te Kaha.

Merdeka means independence in Malay. Memo to the reporter, it is actually the USS Mustin (DDG 89). Despite spending most of its time in the Pacific, I don't think the USS Martin (DE 30) ever made it to Malaysia.

I Like This Idea

Bill Arkin's idea is framed as a way to sustain the surge in Iraq (which is odd if you read Bill Arkin regularly), but he sold me when he even suggested getting out of Kosovo.

The military's Stars and Stripes newspapers report that National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers under the flag of the 35th Infantry Division are readying for a nine-month stint on active duty, beginning with 60 days of pre-deployment refresher training in Indiana before shipping out. These citizen soldiers, mostly from Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska, are forming Task Force Falcon, and while their lives are being terribly disrupted and they face hardships ahead, I'm sure that on some level they are also thanking their lucky stars: They are going to Kosovo.

This will be the ninth rotation of U.S. troops into Kosovo since 1999. The Army has shortened the rotation from a year to nine months to soften the impact on soldier's civilian lives, and 200 fewer troops are in Falcon 9 than previous Falcon deployments.

I'm all for peacekeeping, and I support self-determination and stability for the good people of Kosovo. Still, it's past time we turned this mission over to our good friends in Europe. I know the geopolitics here: America's strength and backing is needed, there are other threats, we have "commitments" and treaties, there should be no vacuums of power nor ungoverned spaces. So there we are still, in South Korea, on Okinawa, sprinkled throughout the Persian Gulf, in Djibouti and increasingly elsewhere in Africa, in the Sinai, all over Europe....

If there is a national interest for the United States in Kosovo, I don't see it, and outside of the compassion envelope I don't understand it. His idea will probably come to nothing, but at some point, the US needs to end its commitment there and let Europe deal with it.