AS IRAN-ISRAEL CONFRONTATON HEATS UP US NAVY PREPARES DEFENSIVE OPTIONS

USS Wasp entering the Mediterranean via the Strait of Gibraltar. Photo: US Navy.

The USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group/Marine Expeditionary Unit (ARG/MEU) is to remain in eastern Mediterranean as the Iran-Israel confrontation heats up. The assault carrier Wasp currently relies on the UK destroyer HMS Duncan for air defence and its ARG comprises USS New York and USS Oak Hill, both landing ships, and fleet support vessel USNS Patuxent.

The embarked force of around 2,000 US Marines in the ARG is the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24th MEU). This includes Battalion Landing Team 1/8, Combat Logistics Battalion 24, along with Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 365 (Reinforced). The latter operates utility helicopters and Harrier strike jets along with Osprey troop transport/heavy-lift tiltrotor aircraft, all types operating from USS Wasp.

HMS Duncan (foreground) providing the USS Wasp ARG with air defence. Photo: Royal Navy.

Strike carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is currently in the US 5th Fleet Area of Operations (AOR) and ‘will move around’, according to the Pentagon, to meet potential threats as the situation in the Middle East evolves.

The Pentagon adds: ‘To maintain a carrier strike group presence in the Middle East, the [US Defense] Secretary has ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln CSG to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt CSG.’ Plus ‘additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers & destroyers’ are being sent to the Med and Middle East waters.

Lewis and Clark Class dry cargo ship USNS Alan Shepard, front, and the Nimitz Class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt sail alongside the Arleigh Burke Class guided-missile destroyer USS Russell (DDG 59). Recent USN image taken in the US 5th Fleet AOR.

During a media briefing Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh explained the rationale behind such moves: ‘[US Defense] Secretary Austin [has] highlighted that further escalation is not inevitable and that all countries in the region would benefit from a de-escalation in tensions, including through completing a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. He also stressed that the unprecedented scale of US support for Israel since October 7th should leave Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah, and other Iranian backed terrorist groups with no doubt about US resolve.’

An F-35C Lightning II, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VMFA) 314, on the flight-deck of USS Abraham Lincoln. Photo: US Navy.

The US Navy’s warships played a key role in defending Israel from a mass drone and missile assault by Iran in April – launched in retaliation for an Israeli attack on its consulate in Syria – in order to prevent further escalation of the situation in the Middle East. Now Iran may retaliate in similar fashion due to Israel’s recent assassination of a senior Hamas official in Tehran and also of a top Hezbollah leader in Beirut.