Free Republic

MIAMI Authorities sent an aircraft carrier and other Navy ships to help with search-and-rescue operations in Florida on Monday as a flyover of the hurricane-battered Keys yielded what the governor said were scenes of devastation. "I just hope everyone survived," Gov. Rick Scott said. He said boats were cast ashore, water, sewers and electricity were knocked out, and "I don't think I saw one trailer park where almost everything wasn't overturned." Authorities also struggled to clear the single highway connecting the string of islands to the mainland. ... He said the Navy dispatched the USS Iwo Jima, USS New York...

More than 3,000 U.S. military personnel have secretly returned to Iraq via Kuwait and 17,000 more are on their way in response to the civil war in Syria that has spilled over into northern Iraq, according to a report published Monday by Iran's Press TV. The news follows by four days a report from the Russian news service RT that the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower has joined the USS Iwo Jima off the coast of Syria. Both President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week issued stern warnings to Syria about unspecified but serious "consequences" that would follow if...

While publicly claiming neutrality between Argentina and the U.K. during the 1982 Falklands War, President Ronald Reagan’s administration had developed plans to loan a ship to the Royal Navy if it lost one of its aircraft carriers in the war, former U.S. Secretary of the Navy, John Lehman, told the U.S. Naval Institute on June 26. Lehman and then Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger agreed to support U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with the loan of the amphibious warship USS Iwo Jima , he said.

Ronald Reagan made secret plans to loan Britain a U.S. warship if she lost an aircraft carrier during the Falklands War, it has emerged. The then-president was prepared to support Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher despite the U.S. being officially neutral during the 1982 conflict. The stunning revelation was made by John Lehman, the former U.S. Secretary of the Navy, to the U.S. Naval Institute on Tuesday. Mr Reagan would have loaned Britain the use of the amphibious warship USS Iwo Jima should harm have come to either HMS Invincible or HMS Hermes, which the Royal Navy had deployed to defend...

During A.M. excersises, I was pleased to view the U.S.S. IWO JIMA #7 steam down Hudson River and away from N.Y.C. She sailed quite close to Jersey side before correcting path back to center of channel and you could easily see all hands on deck gazing westerly towards me. (Isn't this the same U.S.S. IWO JIMA that 'deep-sixed OBL recently?) Anyway, big cheers and a rolling wave of my 'METS' cap was heartily given. (My effort to 'SIGN' them all "JOB WELL DONE--NOW-- LET'S ROLL!"

SOUDA BAY, Greece, Sept. 21, 2008 - Loaded bow to stern with 26 combat aircraft and ready to deliver up to 1,800 Marines ashore on demand, USS Iwo Jima has a lot to bowl over a first-time visitor. But Navy Capt. Robert M. Irelan, Iwo Jima's commanding officer, said he has little doubt the civilian leaders who visited today were as wowed by the ship's crewmembers as by its technology and combat power. "It's not the steel," Irelan told participants in the Defense Department's Joint Civilian Orientation Conference of Iwo Jima, one of the Navy's largest amphibious assault ships that...

Kuwait has activated its Emergency War Plan after an armada of US naval battle groups headed for the Persian Gulf, Middle East Times reports. The report comes after DEBKAfiles claimed on Monday that the USS Theodore Roosevelt, the USS Ronald Reagan, and the USS Iwo Jima are sailing toward the Persian Gulf to reinforce the US strike forces in the region. The US naval force is accompanied by a British Royal Navy carrier battle group and a French nuclear hunter-killer submarine. The deployment is believed to be the largest naval task force assembled by the United States and its allies...

USS Iwo Jima - Sailors aboard the multipurpose, amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) paused to remember AP photographer Joe Rosenthal, who died Aug. 20 at the age of 94. Rosenthal’s photograph of the flag-raising atop Mt. Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945 became the most famous image of World War II – an instantly recognizable symbol of the sacrifices made by American service members during the Pacific campaign. Rosenthal’s image, later immortalized by sculptor Felix DeWeldon as the U.S Marine Corps Memorial in Washington D.C., also serves as the official logo of LHD 7....

USS IWO JIMA , At Sea (NNS) -- USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) and USS Nashville (LPD 13), both assigned to the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG), successfully and safely transited the Suez Canal, Aug. 20. As part of Commander, Task Force 59, both ships, and Marines assigned to the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) (MEU(SOC)) provided crucial departure assistance to American citizens in Lebanon looking to leave the troubled region. USS Cole (DDG 67) and USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41) remained on station off Lebanon, ready to provide additional assistance as needed. “Every Sailor and Marine...

WASHINGTON, July 25, 2006 – The Defense Department evacuated 957 U.S. citizens from Lebanon to Cyprus yesterday aboard the contracted cruise ship Orient Queen, bringing the total to 12,870 since the crisis in Lebanon began July 16, DoD officials said today. Also, DoD airlifted the first humanitarian supplies promised to those in the war-torn country, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. Three helicopters delivered three kits of medical supplies to Red Cross personnel. Each of the three medical kits has enough medicine and supplies to meet the needs of 10,000 people for three months. Seven other kits have arrived in Cyprus...

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2006 – While U.S. authorities in Cyprus are expecting to evacuate at least 5,000 Americans from Lebanon, they are preparing for any contingency, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said today. Navy Vice Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, who also commands the U.S. 5th Fleet, briefed Pentagon reporters from his headquarters in Bahrain. Nine U.S. Navy ships are converging on Lebanon from U.S. Central Command and from U.S. European Command. The European Command ships are arriving in the "joint operating area" already, Walsh said. The CENTCOM ships are expected over the next few days. DoD also...

WASHINGTON, July 18, 2006 – A contracted ship has docked in Lebanon to evacuate U.S. citizens caught in the fighting there, and U.S. officials have ordered the expeditionary strike group based around the USS Iwo Jima to assist in the effort, DoD officials said here today. DoD contracted a Greek ocean liner, the Orient Queen, to evacuate American citizens from Beirut, and that vessel has docked, a senior DoD official told reporters. The liner can hold up to 750 people for the five-hour voyage to Cyprus, an island nation in the western Mediterranean. In addition, six CH-53 helicopters -- three...

MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- U.S. Sailors and Marines from the USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) have been directed to assist in the authorized departure of American citizens from Lebanon. The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon has requested military assistance to help American citizens who wish to depart Lebanon to leave in a secure and orderly manner. Commander, Task Force 59, Marine Brig. Gen. Carl Jensen, is in Cyprus directing military efforts to provide support to the Embassy. The ESG and MEU are operating in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of...

ABOARD USS IWO JIMA, At Sea (NNS) -- The USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) Expeditionary Strike Group entered the U.S. 6th Fleet’s area of operations June 12, supporting Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe's strategic initiative to strengthen emerging and enduring partnerships with the nations and navies of Greece, France, Cyprus, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. While in the theater, the approximately 6,000 U.S. Sailors and Marines assigned to the ships, submarine and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) will provide combat power and work alongside coalition naval forces to deny European waters to maritime security threats. “The Sailors and...

ABOARD USS IWO JIMA (NNS) -- After more than a month of conducting relief operations in the wake of two hurricanes that devastated the Gulf Coast, USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) returned home to Norfolk, Va., Oct. 2. After receiving orders to depart the Gulf of Mexico, the multipurpose amphibious assault ship steamed toward the Florida Keys and into the Atlantic Ocean. Oct. 1, Iwo Jima offloaded some 650 Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and 1st Battalion, 8th Marines at Onslow Bay, N.C., via helicopters and Air Cushion Landing Craft (LCAC) from the ship’s well deck. “This...

ABOARD USS IWO JIMA (NNS) -- USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) successfully got underway from its current berth in downtown New Orleans Sept. 21 as Hurricane Rita raged across the Gulf of Mexico. With the successful onload of supplies and personnel, including 647 Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (24 MEU), Iwo Jima began its trek down the Mississippi River to safer, open waters. The multipurpose amphibious assault ship has been moored in downtown New Orleans since early September, serving as a command and control hub and providing relief and recovery efforts as part of Joint Task Force (JTF)...

President Bush traveled to Mississippi and Louisiana today to observe progress made in the recovery process following Hurricane Katrina. He met with Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and Jim Barksdale, chairman of the Governor's Commission for Recovery, and area business leaders in Gulfport, and then traveled to New Orleans where he was briefed by Vice Admiral Thad Allen on Hurricane Rita on board the USS Iwo Jima outside New Orleans, and then met with contract workers, and workers at the Folger's Coffee Plant and made comments to the press. First Lady Laura met with Librarian of Congress James Billington in preparation...

From CO USS IWO JIMA in New Orleans Interesting perspective on the Navy's involvement in Hurricane Katrina relief: Subject: IWO Update - 6 Sep 05 Hello All; Since I took over IWO JIMA over a year ago, I felt as though I had control of the destiny of the ship. I thought I lost it today, the first time ever, and that we were merely reacting to events rather than controlling them. Within the first 24 hours after arriving pierside in New Orleans, IWO JIMA has become many things. We are one of the few full service airports in the...

NEW ORLEANS -- From the bridge of the 844-foot-long USS Iwo Jima, a panoramic view of New Orleans provides few clues to the destruction that Hurricane Katrina left in her wake. But Rear Adm. Reubin Bookert, commander of Amphibious Group II and the Iwo Jima, knows better. "We've got a lot of work to do. Totally devastated situation. My first reaction was shock," Bookert said Thursday of his initial thought of the scene when he arrived in New Orleans earlier in the week. The multipurpose amphibious assault ship spent its third day in New Orleans on Thursday docked behind the...

Liberia Mission Winds Down By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 30, 2003 - The U.S. Joint Task Force that participated in stability operations in Liberia is pulling out, Defense Department officials said. Military forces from the Economic Community of West African States have succeeded in establishing a safe area so humanitarian operations in Liberia can proceed, said officials. American forces will leave the country Oct. 1. The USS Carter Hall and USS Nashville left the area over the past weekend with 1,550 soldiers and Marines. The USS Iwo Jima still is in the area and will return...