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Nassau ESG to deploy — without Marines

NORFOLK, Va. — The Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group — a flotilla of amphibs, warships and a submarine — has spent months preparing to take the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit on deployment.

But the Marines are hitching a ride from someone else.

With new orders from the Pentagon to reinforce units in Afghanistan, the 24th MEU loaded more than 200 of its vehicles onto the fast sealift ship Algol in the Port of Wilmington, N.C., on Friday. Members of the MEU, which is based at Camp Lejeune, N.C., will fly to Afghanistan rather than ride the Navy ships.

The MEU’s 2,200 troops, which include an infantry battalion, aviation and logistics personnel, are scheduled to arrive in Afghanistan in the spring, according to an MEU press release.

Many MEUs have deployed as a “theater reserve force” in the Middle East, which means they’re on standby for whatever task that comes up. But this MEU has a definite destination — Afghanistan — which shifted the transport requirement, a Navy spokesman said.

“It’s faster, easier and cheaper to fly the Marines and ship their equipment” rather than send them on the Navy ships, said Capt. Conrad Chun, spokesman for Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk.

“It’s just more efficient,” he added. “The Marines are being moved into the region in a more traditional fashion for ground forces. This frees up the ships for other requirements.”

But that won’t keep the Nassau group from deploying, said ESG spokesman Lt. j.g. Anthony Falvo, who confirmed Thursday that the strike group will set sail in February — empty.

“We have received tasking to deploy without the MEU. That said, our mission has not changed and our deployment date has not changed,” he said, adding that the strike group’s mission could entail “maritime security operations.”

While it’s not fully clear why a trained Navy strike group is not transporting the Marines or their gear, a Navy official with knowledge of the operation said the strike group may be broken up because of the new orders.

“The sealift portion of the Marine deployment will be done by [Military Sealift Command] ships. None of the ships in the Nassau strike group will deploy any earlier than planned,” said the source. “The surface combatants will deploy in support of maritime security operations and options for deployment of the amphibious ships are still being evaluated.”

The strike group consists of the amphibious assault ship Nassau, dock landing ship Ashland, amphibious transport dock Nashville, cruiser Philippine Sea, destroyers Ross and Bulkeley and attack submarine Albany. Falvo said all the ships are in a ready-for-deployment status and may conduct maritime security operations in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions, just without the embarked Marine air and ground elements.

All of the vast cargo capacity in the amphibs will go unused, Falvo said. “It will just be a lot of space,” he said. “But we’re still in the area should something change with the MEU.”

Chun said several possible new missions are being reviewed for the amphibs.

Other amphibious ships have gone on non-traditional deployments recently. The dock landing ship Fort McHenry is steaming off the west coast of Africa on a theater security cooperation mission. Before being decommissioned last year, the amphibious assault ship Saipan deployed with only a Navy helicopter detachment in August 2006 as an “expeditionary action group.”

“We are examining various courses of action” for Nassau, Chun said. “The ships of the Nassau ESG are multi-mission platforms capable of meeting many different requirements. A final decision has not yet been made on how all the ships will be employed.”

Blue-green team?

The strike group and MEU practiced working together during a combined exercise in December. But sometime between then and now, the job of taking Marines and their gear into combat was given to military and civilian airliners, and a crew of about 40 civilian merchant mariners who received their activation order on Jan 23.

Four days later, the fast sealift ship Algol, a giant, 946-foot-long cargo ship operated by Military Sealift Command, was out of its reduced operating status at its berth in Violet, La., and bound for the port of Charleston, S.C., to pick up a load of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles for transport to the Persian Gulf, said MSC spokesman Tim Boulay.

Algol then set out for Wilmington to onload the Marines’ gear.

Boulay said the MRAPs are not part of the MEU’s gear; once in the Persian Gulf, the Algol will transfer the Marine equipment to Army-contracted cargo ships for the final leg to an undisclosed port, where the gear will be transported into landlocked Afghanistan.

The Algol has capacity for 150,000 square feet of cargo. Boulay said this shipment of MEU gear will occupy only 66,000 square feet.

“There’s plenty of room,” he said.

Capt. Kelly Frushour, 24th MEU spokeswoman, said about 200 vehicles, some with trailers and towed artillery, will be transported on Algol. Troops and other equipment, as well as the MEU’s helicopters and attack jets, will be transported by air and ship later, but she did not elaborate on what ship or ships may be involved.

“Our air combat element is deploying as well,” she said. “We still have more equipment to go over there.”

A retired Marine infantry officer who stays apprised of developments in the Corps said the circumstances in Afghanistan likely forced the change in plan.

“Being a national priority to get Marines to Afghanistan, we don’t need to transport that unit via ship,” he said.

As for the strike group, he was confident the ships will be put to good use either with a smaller Marine unit for some contingency operation or a theater security cooperation mission.

“I doubt they’ll just bore holes in the water for six months,” he said.

Boulay said the Army-contracted ships are part of Surface Deployment and Distribution Command. A spokesperson from Transportation Command, which has a role overseeing the movement, was not available Friday afternoon to explain why Army-contracted ships were getting involved.

Boulay said the Algol was underway most recently to avoid Hurricane Katrina and went overseas in March 2004 to retrieve equipment from the Army’s 4th Infantry Division and the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment after the invasion of Iraq.

About 1,000 members of 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at Twentynine Palms, Calif., are also slated to join the 24th MEU for the Afghanistan deployment.

DISCUSS: Should an ESG deploy without a MEU?