Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group 99 MED Deployment
LHD-3 Kearsarge
"Proud, Trustworthy, Bold"
The USS KEARSARGE amphibious ready group (ARG) returned to Hampton Roads Thursday, Oct. 14, 1999, following a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean. The ARG, which left Apr. 14, 1999, was composed of the KEARSARGE, USS PONCE (LPD 15) and USS GUNSTON HALL (LSD 44).
The deployment was anything but routine. Upon arrival on station in the Adriatic Sea, the ARG deployed its Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit into Albania, to construct a camp for refugees fleeing the fighting in Kosovo. Marine Corps AV-8B "Harrier" aircraft then conducted numerous bombing runs into Kosovo during the NATO-led effort to remove Serbian armed forces from the province.
Once the Serbs withdrew from Kosovo, the ARG's Marines once again deployed ashore, this time into Kosovo to provide an initial peacekeeping presence in the region, along with other NATO forces. The 26th MEU spent 40 days in Kosovo before returning to the three ARG ships. After enjoying liberty in several Mediterranean ports, the ARG/MEU team was once again called into action, this time to provide relief and assistance to Turkey in the wake of a devastating earthquake. The KEARSARGE medical department built a "tent city" to house thousands left homeless by the quake, and the ARG/MEU delivered water and humanitarian supplies to many hard-to-reach sites within the country.
During the six months-deployment, the KEARSARGE ARG and 26th MEU traveled more than 15 thousand miles, and visited ports such as Brindisi, Italy; Haifa, Israel; and Palma, Spain.
Chronology
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14 Oct 1999 - Returned to Norfolk
19 Apr 1999 - Deployed
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