Units

Tarawa ESG WESTPAC 05 Deployment
LHA-1 Tarawa
"Eagle of the Sea"

The USS Tarawa headed to sea on April 19 thru April 22, 2004 to complete CART II.

USS Tarawa (LHA 1) had its first look at FORCEnet, the next-generation naval warfighting process, during exercise Trident Warrior 04, Oct. 4-15, 2004. The ships of the Tarawa Expeditionary Strike Group participated in Trident Warrior as they headed north to participate in Fleet Week celebrations in San Francisco. The participating units included Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1, the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, Tarawa, USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52), USS Cleveland (LPD 7), USS Chosin (CG 65) and USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53).

By 16 May 2005 USS Tarawa was participating in Component Training While Underway Exercises (COMPTUEX). COMPTUEX is the second of 3 major pre-deployment training exercises before a ship is ready for deployment. More than 5,200 Sailors attached to Expeditionary Strike Group One and Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit were participating in the component training exercises, designed to prepare them for their upcoming Western Pacific Deployment.

The 'Eagle of the Sea' USS Tarawa LHA 1, is heading towards the Arabian Gulf in support of the Global War on Terrorism. The ship and it's complement of over 3,000 Sailors, Marines and civilians will depart its homeport of San Diego, Ca, the morning of July 16, for it's major Western Pacific deployment. The USS Tarawa LHA 1, will be among an Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG-1), force of approximately 5,500 Sailors and Marines deployed on six ships and one submarine. Tarawa serves as the flagship for ESG-1. The primary mission of the Tarawa ARG is to land and sustain U.S. Marines on any shore during hostilities. Tarawa embarks the Marine Corps' AV-8B Harrier attack jets, CH-53E Super Stallion heavy lift helicopters, CH-46 Sea Knight medium lift helicopters, AH-1W Cobra attack helicopters and UH-1N Huey multi-purpose helicopters. In addition, Tarawa embarks landing craft air cushion (LCAC) surface assault boats and landing craft utility (LCU) boats.

USS Tarawa (LHA 1), along with 16,000 boots on the ground, several ships at sea and the flags of 12 nations flying over Egypt, operated off the coast of Egypt for exercise Bright Star 2005 Sept. 10-Oct. 3. Tarawa, the Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1 flagship, participated by projecting its assets on land, at sea and in the air during the operation Sept. 10-28. Embarked aboard the amphibious assault ship, the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), Special Operations Capable (SOC), worked closely with U.S. and other participating nations' ground forces in and around Mubarak Military City conducting training exercises, as well as an amphibious landing demonstration. Tarawa's deck department played a major role in executing precision well deck operations for the embarked Utility Landing Craft (LCU), assaulting a soft sandy beach during the opening phase of the exercise Sept. 15.

While the multinational ground forces train and acquaint each other with tactics and equipment to improve international military cooperation for the region, ships from ESG 1 trained with coalition maritime forces to protect the sea lanes and secure the safety of international waters. In addition, ESG 1 is also training to engage international terrorists as it conducted Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) events, which were intended to detect, deter and deny international terrorist organizations use of the maritime environment.

Members of Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1 are currently leading a group of six coalition ships conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the North Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman. The strike group's flagship, USS Tarawa (LHA 1) and the amphibious transport dock USS Cleveland (LPD 7) are joined by the guided-missile destroyer USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79). The French ships Var (FS 608) and Lafayette (FS 710), and the Pakistani frigate Badr (PNS 181) round out the coalition task group.

ESG-1 rapidly responded in October to provide humanitarian relief to Pakistan after a devastating earthquake killed an estimated 75,000 in the northern part of that country. While LeFever and members of the ESG-1 staff surged to Islamabad, to provide command and control for the U.S. military relief operation, Pearl Harbor and Cleveland ferried several hundred tons of heavy equipment, food, tents and other relief supplies to Karachi to assist the Pakistani government.

Four thousand Sailors and Marines of Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 1 entered the 7th Fleet area of operations Jan. 12 en route to their homeport of San Diego after completing their assigned mission in the 5th Fleet region. The ESG-1 flagship, USS Tarawa (LHA 1), the amphibious transport dock USS Cleveland (LPD 7), the amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52) and the embarked Marines of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit spent more than four months in-theatre.

During the deployment, each of ESG-1's six ships performed maritime security operations (MSO) in 5th Fleet. In the North Persian Gulf, the guided missile cruiser USS Chosin (CG 65) helped train the Iraqi navy and provided security for two key pieces of Iraqi infrastructure, the Al Basrah Oil Terminal and Khawr Al Amaya Oil Terminal.

ESG-1 passed the baton to ESG-8, an East coast-based strike group centered aboard USS Nassau (LHA 4). Nassau will be joined by Gonzalez, which as part of the Sea Swap initiative will remain in theatre after swapping out its crew later this month.

USS Tarawa returned to San Diego in February of 2006.

Chronology

15 Aug 2005 - Arrives in Australia

29 Jul 2005 - Enters 7th Fleet AOR

16 Jul 2005 - Deploys for WESTPAC deployment

26 May 2005 - Pacific Ocean - COMPTUEX completed

12 May 2005 - Deploys for COMPTUEX

19 Apr 2004 - Pacific Ocean / Begins CART II

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Units

Tarawa ESG WESTPAC 05 Deployment LHA-1 Tarawa "Eagle of the Sea"

Chronology

Tarawa ESG WESTPAC 05 Deployment
LHA-1 Tarawa
"Eagle of the Sea"