On the 7th, a 40,000-ton sea monster of the US military, with 2,000 fierce marines, was approaching Iran!
This is the amphibious assault ship Bataan, which carries advanced jet fighters, high-speed landing craft, armored fighting vehicles and officers and soldiers.
U.S. Defense Department officials confirmed that the U.S. military has canceled the amphibious assault ship Bataan and Morocco's military exercises, and instead sent the ship and the more than 2,000 Marines it carries to the Middle East to exert maximum pressure on Iran at a critical juncture when relations between the United States and Iran are deteriorating.
At the same time, the aircraft carrier Truman and other elite US warships have also been in place, and President Trump said that if Iran opens fire, it will be hit with serious consequences.
According to the U.S. Naval Research Association, the Bataan and its 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which were scheduled to hold a joint military exercise with the Moroccan military on Jan. 8 called the African Sea Lion, have now been canceled and transferred to the Middle East.
According to the website's tracking records, the Bataan had just arrived off the coast of Morocco when U.S.-Iran tensions were heating up this week. Now, it is already in the Mediterranean, getting closer and closer to the Middle East. Reports of tracking the battleship are also more interesting than those of aircraft carriers, for example, because it carries one of the most powerful land forces in the Middle East.
Cuomo, a spokesman for the U.S. 6th Fleet, told the site: "The Bataan and its Marine Expedition are on routine missions to demonstrate the innate resilience of our naval forces." ”
The website of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Corps states that the expedition has about 2,200 Marines, and its mission structure is mainly divided into four parts, including: command unit, ground combat unit, aviation combat unit and logistics unit. Ground combat units were the largest, with about 1,200 men.
U.S. Special Forces
The U.S. Bataan (LHD-5) is the United States Navy's Wasp-class amphibious assault ship. The ship is named after the Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II. These Marines will work with the elite paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division to respond to possible Iranian retaliation after the assassination of Iranian General Soleimani by the U.S. military.
Nearly 4,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division, as well as about 200 commandos from the 75th Ranger Regiment, have begun their journey to the Middle East. Immediately after the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, the U.S. Marine Corps has sent about 100 troops of its rapid reaction force deployed in Kuwait to Baghdad.
The 40,000-ton warship reached a speed of 22 knots (41 km/h) and a range of 9,500 nautical miles (17,600 km). It is equipped with a huge flight deck and landing craft access hatches, as well as a large number of small vehicles and personnel access hatches. It is equipped with an air-cushioned landing craft or a small landing craft. Standard equipment can carry 1687 soldiers (plus 184 reinforcements). Multiple fighter jets and helicopters can be carried to cover and launch amphibious air landings.
The battleship is equipped with two RIM-116 anti-aircraft missile launchers. Two RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile launchers. Two 20 mm dense array CIWS anti-missile systems. Three 25 mm Mk 38 chain guns. Four 12.7 mm machine guns.
In terms of aircraft, depending on actual needs, it is possible to mix 6 AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft or 6 F-35B Lightning II stealth attack fighters, AH-1 series Super Cobra/Viper attack helicopters, 12 MV-22B Osprey Assault Support rotorcraft, 4 CH-53E Super Stallion Heavy Helicopters, 3-4 UH-1Y Venom utility helicopters.
Carry 22 MV-22B Osprey Assault Support Rotorcraft during amphibious assault missions. It carries 20 AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft or 20 F-35B Lightning II stealth attack fighters, similar to small aircraft carriers, with 6 SH-60F/HH-60H anti-submarine helicopters.
In addition, the U.S. military has sent six B-52 bombers to a secret base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean to bomb Iran when ordered.
As tensions between the U.S. and Iran mounted, the U.S. Department of Defense also sent special forces under the Army, the aforementioned 75th Ranger Regiment. The elite commando units of the Army were equivalent to the strength of a company, ranging from 150 to 200. Although they are fewer than the Rapid Reaction Force of the 82nd Airborne Division, which was previously sent to the Middle East, it comes from an Army unit and helps increase the overall integrated attack capabilities of the U.S. military in the region, especially behind enemy lines.
The commandos of the 75th Ranger Regiment were the elite of the Army's light infantry, whose specialty was to assault or hunt the heads of enemy troops. During the Iraq War, a secret unit led by the assault force was tasked with annihilating Iranian operatives and Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite military leaders. The Army Times reported that commandos were also adept at seizing airfields. In such operations, commandos seized and defended airfields and terminals for follow-up action, including massive airdrops of paratroopers and equipment, until the aircraft could finally land on the ground and unload equipment and materiel.
The deployment of the commandos to the Middle East this time was not very surprising, as they often cooperated with paratroopers of the airborne division during airfield capture missions. For commandos and paratroopers, capturing airfields is their core combat capability. A Defense Department official told the Military Network on Jan. 5 that task forces, including commandos from the 75th Ranger Regiment, would be deployed at U.S. Central Command. Central Command) is responsible for the operational sphere.
The predecessor of the current 75th Ranger Regiment was the U.S. Unit 5307 during World War II. At that time, the unit and the Chinese army stationed in India fought jointly in the China-Burma-India Theater and jointly resisted Japan. To commemorate this history, the 75th Ranger Regiment's crest has a badge symbolizing China at the time in the upper left corner, while the lower right corner is a "Burmese Star".
Whether the United States and Iran will choose to go to war or ease tensions, let us wait and see.