The amphibious assault ship USS Wasp pulls into port at Naval Station Rota, Spain, June 25, 2024. The Wasp and the loading dock ship USS Oak Hill, along with embarked elements of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are now in the Mediterranean, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet said on June 27. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Drace Wilson)
NAPLES, Italy — A Navy amphibious group has entered the Mediterranean Sea ahead of the imminent exit of a carrier strike group that spent much of the year engaged in naval combat at a pace unseen since World War II.
The amphibious assault ship USS Wasp and dock landing ship USS Oak Hill, along with embarked elements of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are in the Mediterranean, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet said Thursday.
Wasp transited the Strait of Gibraltar on Wednesday evening after a replenishment stop at Naval Station Rota in Spain. Oak Hill entered the sea on June 18, according to Gibraltar-based ship watcher Michael Sanchez.
The arrival of Wasp and Oak Hill comes as the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group prepares to return to the U.S. after a nearly nine-month deployment in the Middle East and eastern Mediterranean.
On Thursday, Eisenhower, along with the destroyer USS Gravely and the cruiser USS Philippine Sea, were at Naval Support Activity Souda Bay on the Greek Island of Crete.
The port visit was only the second for Eisenhower during its deployment, much of which was spent protecting commercial shipping in the Red Sea from attack by Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.
The carrier at one point was launching 100 flights a day up to seven days a week while fending off Houthi drone and missile attacks on mainly unarmed ships.
The Wasp ARG deployed June 1. Wasp and a third ship in the ARG, the amphibious transport dock ship USS New York, most recently participated in training in Poland as part of the NATO multinational exercise Baltic Operations 24.
It wasn’t clear on Thursday whether New York would join the group in the Mediterranean.
On Saturday, the Pentagon announced that Eisenhower had left the Red Sea and would spend a short amount of time in the eastern Mediterranean.
The carrier’s return to the United States comes as Houthi drone and missile strikes continue in the Red Sea. The most recent attack came June 12 against a commercial ship, which sank six days later.
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, currently taking part in a military exercise near South Korea, is expected to replace Eisenhower in the Red Sea.
During a news briefing Monday, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder wouldn’t say why Eisenhower was in the eastern Mediterranean or how long it will remain.
The Defense Department “has maintained a robust variety of capabilities throughout the region to both provide force protection capabilities but also serve as a deterrent and enable us to respond to a multitude of contingencies, and so that won’t change,” Ryder said.
The Bataan ARG was the last amphibious force in the Mediterranean, leaving the area in early March after nearly eight months in Europe and the Middle East.
