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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...

<p>MONROVIA, Liberia &#8212; Rebels lifted their siege of Liberia's capital yesterday, and 200 American troops landed to support a West African peace force, breaking off a 10-week campaign that routed the president, killed more than 1,000 civilians and left hundreds of thousands trapped and starving.</p>

US forces pour into Liberia with M16s and razor wire By Declan Walsh in Monrovia 15 August 2003 The siege is finally over. American marines landed dramatically in Monrovia yesterday, clearing the way for Nigerian peace-keepers to seize control of the battered city and end a mounting humanitarian crisis. Three days after the pariah President, Charles Taylor, fled into exile, US warplanes and helicopters screamed over Liberia's capital while Nigerian troops were pushing into rebel territory. A giant crowd of dancing and singing Liberians gave them a riotous welcome as they crossed frontline bridges, scenes of the most chaotic fighting...

By GLENN McKENZIE Associated Press Writer MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) - Three U.S. military helicopters landed at Liberia's high-walled U.S. Embassy on Wednesday, a day after President Bush promised to send a first American team to Liberia's war-divided capital. U.S. officials declined to immediately confirm whether the helicopters contained the promised six- to 10-member U.S. military team. The team is moving in as Nigerian troops at Monrovia's airport - the vanguard of a West African peacekeeping force - prepared to enter the capital for the first time. American authorities barred journalists from the embassy for the landing. They would confirm only...

Thu July 31, 2003 06:29 PM ET By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The lead ships in a U.S. Navy Amphibious Ready Group are expected to arrive off the coast of Liberia by Saturday, but no decision has been made on whether to put any of the 2,300 Marines aboard on the ground in the West African country, U.S. officials said on Thursday. A senior defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States will have "forces closer to Liberia available for whatever purpose the president may decide may be necessary." The official added that "at the moment,...

<p>President Bush today directed the Pentagon to position a limited number of Marines off the coast of Liberia to facilitate the arrival of West African peacekeepers as fighting raged in Monrovia and conditions deteriorated for the Liberian people.</p> <p>Defense officials said a three-ship Amphibious Ready Group with 2,200 Marines led by the helicopter carrier USS Iwo Jima would arrive in the region from the Mediterranean in early August, about the time the first battalion of Nigerian peacekeepers is planning to go into Liberia.</p>

THE NEW WORLD DISORDER Bush orders troops to war-torn Liberia 'Limited numbers' of U.S. soldiers to support peacekeeping force until U.N. relieves them Posted: July 25, 2003 1:00 p.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com President George W. Bush has ordered U.S. troops to the coast of war-torn Liberia to support international peacekeepers in delivering humanitarian aid. The White House released a statement this morning announcing the decision, and Bush addressed the topic following a joint press conference with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. "U.S. troops will be there to help ECOWAS [Economic Community of the Western African States] go in and...

Bush: U.S. Ships Positioned for Possible Liberia Duty Fri July 25, 2003 11:28 AM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush has ordered the Pentagon to position "appropriate military capabilities" off the coast of Liberia to support a West African peacekeeping mission in the war-torn country, the White House said on Friday. "The U.S. role will be limited in time and scope as multinational forces under the United Nations assume the responsibility for peacekeeping and as the United States arranges a political transition in Liberia," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said in a written statement.

Carla Jackson had a hard time fighting back her tears. Wearing the sweatshirt she had made while her husband was in Operation Desert Storm, she was taken back by the emotion of Saturday's Support the Troops Rally at the Pritchard Community Center in Elizabethtown. "At first, it didn't seem like the community out in town or at Fort Knox was doing anything," she said, "but everyone came out in full force today." Jackson, whose husband, Tracy is a platoon sergeant deployed to Kuwait with Fort Knox's 233rd Transportation Company, was one hundreds of people who flooded the center with red,...

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- After watching dozens of Navy ships deploy in recent months in preparation for a possible war with Iraq, sailors on three amphibious ships left Tuesday in this port's last planned deployment for the near future. "Trust me, we all want to go over there and get it over with," said Capt. David C. Taylor, commander of Amphibious Squadron Six. He said the crews had trained hard and had been ready to go since late November. The amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima left Norfolk Naval Station on its maiden deployment, along with the amphibious transport dock...

Photo by Bill Tiernan / The Virginian-Pilot. The amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima carries a message as it prepares for deployment Tuesday morning at Norfolk Naval Station. More photos. Photo by Bill Tiernan / The Virginian-Pilot. By SONJA BARISIC, Associated Press March 4, 2003 NORFOLK -- After watching dozens of Navy ships deploy in recent months in preparation for a possible war with Iraq, sailors on three amphibious ships left today in the last major deployment from Hampton Roads for the near future. ``Trust me, we all want to go over there and get it over with,'' said Capt....