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Bataan enters 5th Fleet

In what is becoming a build-up of U.S. naval power in the Middle East, the amphibious assault ship Bataan and its expeditionary strike group passed through the Suez Canal and into the 5th Fleet area of operations Tuesday.

Its arrival in the area, with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard, coincides with the new surge of U.S. military forces into the region and saber-rattling between Washington and Tehran.

“For Bataan, it’s a routine, regularly scheduled deployment out here,” said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, spokesman for Naval Forces Central Command/5th Fleet in Bahrain.

The Boxer strike group already is in the Persian Gulf. Its Marines, the 15th MEU, are ashore in Iraq. They were extended 60 days in early January.

In addition to the gators now in Middle East waters, the Eisenhower strike group remains in the 5th Fleet area. It arrived in the region on Oct. 30.

The John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group which left its homeport in Bremerton, Wash., on Jan. 16, will join Bataan in the region as quickly as it can get there.

Accompanying the Bataan on deployment are the amphibious transport dock Shreveport, dock landing ship Oak Hill, cruiser Vella Gulf, destroyer Nitze, frigate Underwood and attack submarine Scranton.

In total, the strike group has 6,000 sailors and Marines.

Brown said the force will conduct maritime security operations and “will be available for other missions as necessary.”

To cover the Pacific while the Stennis operates in the Middle East, the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group deployed on short notice from San Diego on Jan. 27.