• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Expeditionary Strike Group 2 To Practice Amphibious Landing

Navy Newsstand

Story Number: NNS031212-09

Release Date: 12/12/2003 10:58:00 AM

From Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet Public Affairs

EGLIN AFB, Fla. (NNS) -- The seven ships and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit of Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 2 arrived off the coast of Northwest Florida Dec. 10 in preparation for the next phase of the first East Coast ESG exercise.

The exercise, which began Dec. 2, is an amphibious combined-arms exercise which features numerous Navy and Marine Corps live-fire and tailored training events, designed to prepare Sailors and Marines to deploy in support of the global war on terrorism. This is the first time a group of East Coast ships has trained together as an ESG, which combines the strike warfare capabilities of surface combatants with the amphibious capabilities of the amphibious ready group.

A Marine Expeditionary Unit rounds out the ESG, making it a flexible naval force that can operate in the littorals or the open ocean, day and night, in all weather conditions, in support of Marine or joint forces operating near shore or deep inland.

ESG-2 has been conducting training in the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico since Dec. 2. The next phase of the exercise features an amphibious landing at beaches near Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. Over the following three days, Marines ashore and Sailors at sea will conduct integrated live-fire exercises, combining the power projection capabilities of Marines and amphibious ships with the strike and naval surface gunfire support of the ESG's surface combatants.

ESG-2 will be the first expeditionary strike group to use the range at Eglin Air Force Base. The range is important because it is one of the few places on the East Coast of the United States where the Navy and Marine Corps team can practice integrated live-fire training prior to deployment overseas. The size of its ranges and its location on the Gulf of Mexico, coupled with virtual training, permit Sailors and Marines to hone their combat skills prior to deploying.

ESG-2 includes the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Lejeune, N.C.; the Norfolk-based multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1); the guided-missile cruisers USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), homeported in Norfolk and USS Yorktown (CG 48), homeported in Pascagoula, Miss.; the amphibious transport ship USS Shreveport (LPD 12), homeported in Norfolk; the dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41), homeported at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Va.; the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG 74) from Norfolk, and the fast-attack submarine USS Connecticut (SSN 22) based in Groton, Conn.

Expeditionary Strike Group 2 is commanded by Capt. Steven C. Joachim, and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit is commanded by Col. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. Completion of the ESG exercise is a critical step in the pre-deployment training cycle, and certifies the ESG can accept all missions and complete amphibious operations throughout the world.

The ESG exercise is an example of the Navy and Marine Corps' commitment to the Secretary of Defense's vision to transform the U.S. military in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The ESG is designed as a flexible striking unit, enabling the United States to conduct shaping operations in the global war on terrorism. The essential characteristics of ESG are mobility, agility and lethality, which give the regional or combatant commander the flexibility to conduct operations across the broad spectrum of conflict.

The ESG concept is centered on the proven flexibility and combat power of a combined amphibious readiness group and Marine Expeditionary Unit, and adds to this the robust strike, anti-air, anti-surface and anti-subsurface capabilities of cruisers, destroyers, frigates and submarines. These combined capabilities give the combatant commander a wider variety of options and enables independent operations in more dynamic environments.

Training for this ESG is among the first major exercises to be set up under the Navy's Training Resource Strategy, a Fleet Forces Command initiative to better coordinate and utilize training resources available to the fleet in order to provide the most effective pre-deployment training to Sailors and Marines.

With the formal transfer of Vieques, Atlantic Fleet Naval strike group training has been distributed to existing training ranges and facilities in locations including Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and at ocean ranges in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico -- including the gulf coast range complex. These ranges and new training technology, such as the virtual-at-sea-trainer, permit better opportunities to train with modern standoff and precision weapons.

The Navy and Marine Corps seek training that will provide realistic challenges to today's joint warfighting demands -- including training in a variety of environments and terrains. Naval training requirements include the ability to use a simulated battle space.

Requirements also include the need for fewer restrictions on the U.S. Navy's ability to train joint warfighting forces to best prepare Sailors and Marines for combat, and ensuring naval combat forces remain second to none. Current naval training initiatives will continue to deliver combat ready forces with speed and agility whenever called upon by the Commander in Chief.