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Wasp Strike Group and 22 MEU to Deploy
Story Number: NNS040210-09
Release Date: 2/10/2004 4:34:00 PM
From Commander, U.S. 2nd Fleet Public Affairs
NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- Roughly 6,300 Sailors and Marines in the USS Wasp (LHD 1) Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 2 will depart Feb. 17 as they make their maiden deployment as an ESG in support of the global war on terrorism.
Wasp ESG – the first Expeditionary Strike Group from the East Coast – completed their month-long Expeditionary Strike Group Exercise (ESGEX) with Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) 22 in December 2003, successfully completing a series of complex training events, which included naval surface fire support training and air-to-ground bombing off the coasts of Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. ESGEX is an intermediate-level exercise designed to forge the strike group into a cohesive fighting team and is a critical step in the pre-deployment training cycle.
This training exercise used the comprehensive Training Resource Strategy, which better coordinates use of existing East Coast and Gulf Coast range training facilities and improved simulation technology to prepare combat-ready forces.
The ESG concept is centered on the proven flexibility and combat power of a combined Amphibious Readiness Group and Marine Expeditionary Unit. The ESG adds the robust strike, anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-subsurface capabilities of two cruisers, a destroyer, and an attack submarine. These combined capabilities give the combat commander a wider variety of options and enables independent operations in more dynamic environments.
The Wasp Strike Group is commanded by Capt. Steven C. Joachim, and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (22 MEU) is commanded by Marine Col. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. The strike group consists of the amphibious assault ship Wasp, the guided-missile cruisers USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), homeported in Norfolk, Va., and USS Yorktown (CG 48), homeported in Pascagoula, Miss.; the amphibious transport ship USS Shreveport (LPD 12), homeported in Norfolk, Va.; the dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41), homeported at Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Va.; the guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG 74), homeported in Norfolk, Va.; and the fast-attack submarine USS Connecticut (SSN 22), homeported in Groton, Conn. The MEU is composed of the Marine aviation squadron, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM) 266, the battalion landing team, BLT 1/6, and the MEU Service and Support Group (MSSG) 22.
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ESG 2 Participates in Bilateral Exercise - 3/9/2004
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