Send in the Marines
USS Tripoli (LHA-7)
Amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and elements of the embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) will join USS Gerald R. Ford and Abraham Lincoln carrier strike groups already on-station.
USS Tripoli, 2,500 Marines headed to Middle East
The move bolsters the 50,000 troops and two carrier strike groups that are already in the region.
By Stephen Feller
March 13 (UPI) — The USS Tripoli, and the 2,500 Marines on the amphibious assault ship, are headed to the Middle East to bolster U.S. military power there as the war in Iran enters its third week.
The Tripoli, along with Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Group, had been operating in the Philippine Sea but is now headed west south of Taiwan through the Luzon Strait, USNI News reported.
Although the Tripoli had been with the USS San Diego and USS New Orleans in the Philippine Sea, it is not clear if the San Diego and the New Orleans are also being moved closer to Iran.
As Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz to most traffic, and is targeting vessels that transit it, the move comes as U.S. Central Command asked the Pentagon for additional military options in the conflict, Axios reported.
I’ll bet an entire US dollar the Marines will wind up owning Kharg Island.
No bet.
Kharg Island will be a hell of drone and missile attacks.