USS Boxer Leaves Western Pacific Ahead of San Diego Return – Sam LaGrone – November 12, 2024 5:29 PM

USS Boxer (LHD=4) arrived in Guam for a port visit, Oct. 30, 2024. US Navy Photo

Amphibious warship USS Boxer (LHD-4) has left the Western Pacific and is expected to make a port call to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, before returning to San Diego, USNI News has learned.

Boxer is expected to arrive in Hawaii later today, a Navy official told USNI News, for a port call ahead of a transit to Naval Station San Diego, Calif., and the return of 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit elements to Camp Pendleton. Boxer left U.S. 7th Fleet over the weekend, an official told USNI News.

The big deck’s return to California marks the end of an abbreviated deployment that began in July after the ship was sidelined in April for three months of emergent repairs to fix a rudder that failed just days into its deployment.

Following the pier side repair, Boxer traveled to the Western Pacific and drilled with U.S. allies in the South China Sea and assisted in humanitarian aid in October in the Philippines following the landfall of Typhoon Krathon.

Boxer’s planned return will wrap a disjointed deployment that saw the three-ship Amphibious Ready Group leave across several months. Amphibious transport dock USS Somerset (LPD-25) deployed in January to the Indo-Pacific and returned to San Diego in August after participating in the Rim of the Pacific 2024 exercise in Hawaii.

In April, USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) left for deployment, which was a first for the embarked Amphibious Combat Vehicles. Harpers Ferry delivered the vehicles to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit in Okinawa and exercised across the Western Pacific.

The delay of Boxer’s deployment and subsequent repair problems became a prime of example of the Navy and Marine Corps mismatch between the supply of amphibious warships to meet the needs of the Marine Expeditionary Units.

During the deployment delay, the Navy and Marine Corps agreed to baseline definitions of readiness to better coordinate Marine training with the availability of amphibious warships to transport the MEUs.

“The obvious 800-pound gorilla in the room is the state of the amphibs,” retired Lt. Gen. Karsten Heckl, then the Marine deputy commandant for combat development and integration, said earlier this year.
“We have over 20 years of operations in the Middle East and [U.S. Central Command],” he added. “We’ve ground our forces up pretty good, right. We flew the paint off our aircraft. We drove the paint off the bottom of the hulls of the ships. I mean, we just kept going without really due regard of what needed to be done and now we’re paying for it.”

Once back in San Diego after its four-month deployment, Boxer is set to enter an 18-month availability that will begin next year.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/7so8dLD
via IFTTT

HMS Excellent parade Ground in action

Remembrance troops put through their paces at HMS Excellent before Cenotaph role

5th November 2024 at 5:28pm

Watch: Remembrance troops put through their paces at HMS Excellent before Cenotaph role

Personnel at HMS Excellent have been practising to make sure they are ready to lead commemorations at the Cenotaph for Remembrance Sunday.

Forty-eight members of the Royal Marines Band Service lead 65 Royal Navy sailors and officers, 31 Royal Marines and eight members of Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service, in London.

But now, HMS Excellent resounded to the sound of boots and music, as sailors and Royal Marines prepared for their role.

• What do the different colour poppies mean?
• Royal British Legion opens Field of Remembrance at National Memorial Arboretum
• Find out how the US honours its fallen with the mesmerising Changing of the Guard

Warrant Officer Class 1 Glynn Moffet is State Ceremonial Training Officer for the Royal Navy and told BFBS Forces News talks start “within the state ceremonial training group around March” in preparation for the event.

“But actually, the culmination of training starts three weeks before delivery of the National Act of Remembrance,” he said.

Watch: Princess Royal lays wreath at 80th Operation Market Garden commemoration event in Arnhem

From ships and submarines to bases and barracks, all personnel want to be at the nation’s focal point of remembrance.

And many have very personal reasons for volunteering.

Marine Benjamin Dixon, 40 Commando, said his “great-grandfather served in World War Two so it’s a perfect opportunity to remember him”.

Meanwhile, Royal Navy Chief Petty Officer Adam Jamieson said his great-uncles were in the RAF.

He explained one of them was a prisoner of war, while another was shot down in the North Sea.

“He’s commemorated at the Runnymede Memorial, so straight away that’s one reason for wanting to do it,” he said.

Three weeks of hard training is almost at an end – but they’re more than ready for their role leading the nation in remembrance. 

Petty Officer naval nurse Soriana Mackie said personnel were “feeling and remembering about how important it is for us to be here”.

“To be marching, not just to be here as part of the Royal Navy, but to be representing the Queen Alexandra Royal Navy Nursing Service,” she said.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/wUS67cz
via IFTTT

HMS Queen Elizabeth leaves Portsmouth naval base after super-fast turnaround – 4th November 2024 at 12:30pm

Watch: Well-wishes wave off HMS Queen Elizabeth

The Royal Navy’s flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth has set sail from Portsmouth naval base after a quick turnaround of only three days.

The 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier headed back out to sea having only returned home on Friday following a 10-day period of training with the Royal Air Force and personnel from Britannia Royal Naval College.

HMS Queen Elizabeth will now be taking part in routine training and for some defence engagement before her expected return before Christmas.

• HMS Queen Elizabeth returns to Portsmouth after training with RAF and HMS St Albans
• Royal Navy flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth returns to sea after leaving Portsmouth
• HMS Queen Elizabeth: All you need to know about the mighty aircraft carrier

BFBS Forces News live-streamed on YouTube the departure of the aircraft carrier, which you can watch back in full below.

HMS Queen Elizabeth recently completed routine training and sea trials which saw her crew take on different roles, work with Chinook helicopters and host visitors from BRNC Dartmouth.

She also worked closely with the Type 23 frigate HMS St Albans during her Fleet Operation Sea Training.

During her time at sea, she also worked with the Chinooks from the RAF’s 7 Squadron, which gave members of the lower deck crew the chance to work on flight operations.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/v6x98iA
via IFTTT