Roughly a month after it left San Diego, the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group — whose three ships are carrying about 4,200 Sailors and Marines — has reached the Indo-Pacific, according to online comments by the Navy.
It is not clear whether the Trump administration still wants the task force to go all the way to the Persian Gulf and join other American warships in the U.S. conflict with Iran. The administration and the Pentagon have had little to say about the group in recent weeks.
The ready group left San Diego in mid-March with upwards of 2,200 members from Camp Pendleton’s 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Such troops specialize in amphibious assault, which gives the administration the ability to rapidly put Marines ashore.
In late March, President Donald Trump publicly spoke about the possibility of using land-based troops to take control of Kharg Island, the home of Iran’s largest oil export depot.
But that subject has faded while the U.S. and Iran are negotiating a potential peace agreement in the midst of a cease fire.
The ready group is composed of the Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, and USS Portland and USS Comstock, which primarily transport Marines.