{"id":63721,"date":"2026-03-14T12:58:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T16:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63721"},"modified":"2026-03-14T12:58:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T16:58:42","slug":"u-s-sends-uss-tripoli-marines-to-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/14\/u-s-sends-uss-tripoli-marines-to-the-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. sends USS Tripoli, Marines to the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" data-dominant-color=\"334e79\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"275\" height=\"183\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/images-1-6.webp?resize=275%2C183&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-63722 not-transparent\" style=\"--dominant-color: #334e79; aspect-ratio:1.502860558449321;width:365px;height:auto\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Department of Defense has ordered the Japan-based amphibious assault ship <strong>USS Tripoli (LHA-7)<\/strong> and the <strong>31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU)<\/strong> to the Middle East. This deployment, reported on March 13, 2026, is a response to the escalating conflict with Iran, specifically targeting disruptions in the <strong>Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The move is part of the ongoing <strong>Operation Epic Fury<\/strong>, which began in late February 2026 following strikes on Iranian military and nuclear sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key Deployment Details<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Forces:<\/strong> Approximately <strong>2,500 Marines<\/strong> from the 31st MEU (based in Okinawa) and over <strong>2,000 Navy personnel<\/strong> are currently in transit.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Composition:<\/strong> The <strong>Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)<\/strong> includes the USS Tripoli, the transport dock ships <strong>USS New Orleans<\/strong> and <strong>USS San Diego<\/strong>, and escorts like the destroyer <strong>USS Rafael Peralta<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Capabilities:<\/strong> The USS Tripoli functions as a &#8220;light carrier,&#8221; equipped with <strong>F-35B Lightning II<\/strong> stealth fighters and <strong>MV-22B Osprey<\/strong> tilt-rotor aircraft. The 31st MEU is a rapid-response force capable of amphibious landings, embassy security, and non-combatant evacuations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Estimated Arrival:<\/strong> The group was recently spotted sailing west through the Luzon Strait near Taiwan and is expected to reach the Middle East in <strong>10 to 15 days<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Strategic Context<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The deployment follows a major escalation on March 13, when President Trump announced that U.S. forces &#8220;obliterated&#8221; military targets on <strong>Kharg Island<\/strong>, Iran&#8217;s primary oil export hub. While oil infrastructure was reportedly spared in that specific strike, the arrival of the Tripoli ARG provides the Pentagon with more &#8220;littoral warfare&#8221; options\u2014such as securing outlying islands or interdicting Iranian mine-laying vessels\u2014should Iran continue to block maritime traffic through the Strait<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Department of Defense has ordered the Japan-based amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA-7) and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) to the Middle East. This deployment, reported on&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"17","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcL2ltYWdlcy0xLTYud2VicD9maXQ9Mjc1JTJDMTgzJnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiVS5TLiBzZW5kcyBVU1MgVHJpcG9saSwgTWFyaW5lcyB0byB0aGUgTWlkZGxlIEVhc3QiLCJ0ZW1wbGF0ZSI6ImhpZ2h3YXkiLCJmb250IjoiIiwiYmxvZ19pZCI6MTYzMDQwNjYxfQ.KTuZ61JmN5ugi6h4vZvCcc4O4juYA1q-O5bG-WngDZ0MQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[14067,14066],"class_list":["post-63721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regional-and-world-news","tag-marines-to-the-middle-east","tag-u-s-sends-uss-tripoli"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63723,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63721\/revisions\/63723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}