After delay, 11th MEU ready for departure - Marine Corps News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Marine Corps Times

After delay, 11th MEU ready for departure

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — The amphibious assault ship Bonhomme Richard, sidelined from deploying last week because of problems with some steam generators, will depart Thursday morning for its scheduled overseas deployment.

The San Diego-based ship, carrying the bulk of 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit on the deployment with the three-ship amphibious ready group, “is back in fighting shape,” the ship’s skipper, Capt. John Funk, said in a recorded message on the ship’s “Careline” announcing the new departure date.

Navy officials on Sept. 16 delayed Bonhomme Richard’s planned Sept. 18 departure because of unspecified troubles with its ship service turbine generators. Repair teams, including sailors and workers from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Va., have been tackling the repairs while the ship remained pierside since last week, a period Funk described as “a challenging couple of days.”

Officials with Third Fleet attributed the delay to an “emergent engineering maintenance issue” but hadn’t yet provided details.

The delay put in limbo some 3,000 sailors and Marines — the bulk of the 4,500-member ready group – as many had already vacated their barracks rooms or apartments for the deployment.

For the Marines, the delayed departure meant a weekend of liberty close to home. “Some units stayed at their command posts,” and others worked aboard the ship, said 1st Lt. Roger Hollenbeck, an 11th MEU spokesman. The ship’s galley has been providing meals throughout the week, and “everybody’s been given a place on the ship,” Hollenbeck said. “The Navy’s been great. It’s just like if we are embarked. At the end of the day, Marines can go out in town.”

Once Bonhomme Richard departs San Diego Bay, the ship is expected to take on AV-8B Harrier jets and other helicopters and head west to rejoin about 1,500 sailors and Marines aboard transport dock ship Cleveland and dock landing ship Rushmore, which left last week for the planned Western Pacific and Persian Gulf deployment.

Navy Capt. Rodney Clark, Amphibious Squadron 7 commander in San Diego, is leading the ready group, which includes Tactical Air Control Squadron 12’s Detachment 1; Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 23’s Detachment 3; Assault Craft Unit 1’s Detachment B; ACU-5’s Detachment F; Beachmaster Unit 1’s Detachment B; and Fleet Surgical Team 9. The 2,100-member 11th MEU, based at Camp Pendleton, is lead by Col. Gregg Olson and includes Battalion Landing Team 2/4, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 166 (Reinforced) and Combat Logistics Battalion 11.