Marine Corps News, news from Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Tarawa, 11th MEU to return to San Diego

Thousands of Marines and sailors with the Tarawa Expeditionary Strike Group will return home to San Diego on June 3 following a seven-month deployment, Navy officials said Thursday.

Returning forces include the amphibious assault ship Tarawa, the dock landing ship Cleveland and the dock landing ship Germantown, and are led by Navy Commodore John Miley, commander of Amphibious Squadron 1.

More than 2,000 Marines with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, led by Col. John Bullard, are also expected to return.

Three other vessels with the ESG have returned to their respective home ports within the last month, Navy officials said in a statement. The destroyer Hopper and the cruiser Port Royal returned to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on May 2 and the frigate Ingraham returned to Everett, Wash., on May 9.

The strike group deployed to the Persian Gulf, where it served as the theater reserve force and conducted training, combat air missions in Iraq and contingency operations in Afghanistan, officials said. The Port Royal, Hopper and Ingraham also patrolled the Arabian Gulf around Iraq’s two oil platforms and international waters off the coast of Iran.

It was near Iran that the crews of the Ingraham, Hopper and Port Royal found themselves in an incident that made international headlines.

On Jan. 6, a mysterious threatening message was transmitted at the same time that five Iranian vessels swarmed the American fleet, elevating tensions.

No shots were fired, but the U.S. and Iran released video and audio showing the boats swarming around the American ships. In an audio recording released by the Navy, a man’s voices threatened: “I am coming to you ... You will explode after ... minutes.”

Iranian officials denied its boats threatened the U.S. vessels, according to The Associated Press. Instead, it accused Washington of fabricating the video in an attempt to stir up tensions in the Middle East. The Iranians released a video of their own showing a maritime security officer calmly hailing the Port Royal over the marine radio, with no threats.

Several Navy officers later speculated in interviews with Navy Times that the voice could’ve actually been a mariner on a nearby merchant ship, pulling a prank on the radio. Crews passing through the Strait of Hormuz often take on the persona of the so-called “Filipino Monkey” and crack jokes or talk in silly voices over open radio channels.

Before it entered the Persian Gulf, the ESG stopped near Bangladesh to offer humanitarian assistance and disaster relief following tropical cyclone Sidr, which killed more than 3,300 people, according to the AP.