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| Africa Horn | |
| Another Floating Commando Base | |
| 2006-04-24 | |
| April 24, 2006: The U.S. Navy recently sent the Trenton Expeditionary Strike Group (amphibious carrier USS Trenton and her escorts) off to the Indian Ocean, without the normal complement of marines. Since these ships are believed to be supporting counter-terror operations, sending a ship like the LPD Trenton to sea without its normal complement of marines indicates that the ship may be used as a floating base for UAVs and SOF (special operations forces). A similar task was assigned a navy carrier in 2002, to support SOF operations in Afghanistan. The Trenton, and her two escorts (a destroyer and a cruiser, and possibly a nuclear sub as well), could support SOF operations ashore in Somalia, or Iran.
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| Posted by:Steve |
| #6 Agree wid Steve - with the Spetzlamists striking all along the world's vital trade and oil routes, it behooves Dubya & Company to secure the accesses to and from the Persian Gulf and support routes. Don't think its INDIA becuz such ops is still too advanced for its Navy yet - they're still getting used to having both modern + reliable equipment. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-04-24 21:27 |
| #5 Rantburg U strikes again! Thanks, 74. Oh, and you've an interesting website, too. :-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-04-24 19:30 |
| #4 I wish these reporters would get their act together. The Trenton (LPD-14) is not an "amphibious carrier"; those are LHAs and LHDs. The Trenton has a flight deck, but can only operate one or two helecopters at a time. What it does have is lots of berthing for troops and command and control spaces as well as landing craft and vehicle/equipment storage space. Also, recent rumor had it that the Indian Navy was interested in buying the Trenton. Its possible that we might let the Indians "try before buy" at some point during the cruise. |
| Posted by: 74 2006-04-24 19:11 |
| #3 No, I'll bet your first born they are in Iran right now. Let the fun begin. |
| Posted by: Spolump Chavitch5462 2006-04-24 16:57 |
| #2 Lots of interesting things happening in East Africa. |
| Posted by: RWV 2006-04-24 13:22 |
| #1 Working the SeaBase theory in live fire. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-04-24 13:21 |