The upcoming deployment for the Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group, which was scheduled for Saturday, has been delayed to Monday or Tuesday as Hurricane Joaquin moves up the East Coast. , depending on weather conditions, officials said.
Bad weather also delayed the return of the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, which wrapped up its Composite Training Unit Exercise in preparation on Wednesday. The ships — which include the cruiser Anzio and destroyers Gravely, Bulkeley, Gonzalez and Ramage — were scheduled to return to Norfolk on Thursday, but will remain at sea to ride the storm out. The strike group is scheduled to deploy later this fall.
Ships stationed in the Hampton Roads region were placed on Sortie Condition Bravo Thursday. That means They have to be ready to set sail on a 24-hour notice. Several ships departed Norfolk later that day, according to a Fleet Forces Command release.
"Their design and displacement makes it best to send them to sea today given the potential for increased winds in HR tomorrow resulting from the existing frontal system," the FFC news release said.
More than 4,000 sailors and Marines comprise the Kearsarge ARG. They are on tap for a seven-month float to provide maritime and theater security as well as crisis response in the 5th and 6th Fleets areas.
The blue-green team will be aboard the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge and amphibious transport dock Arlington out of Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, and the dock landing ship Oak Hill out of Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek/Fort Story. The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is based out of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
It is the first deployment for Arlington, which was commissioned in April 2013. The eighth ship in the San Antonio class, Arlington is named in honor of the 184 victims who died when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, as well as the first responders from Arlington County.
Kearsarge is a deployment veteran, having made her maiden voyage in 1995 before much of the current crew were born. But with something old comes something new. Roughly 200 Kearsarge sailors will don two prototype Improved Flame Resistant Coveralls as part of a wear test being conducted by Fleet Forces Command. The utility and flight suit versions also come with a blue version of the Army's flame-resistant fleece jacket.
The deployment comes after a busy summer. The ships conducted a three-week ARG/MEU Exercise in June, and three-week Composite Training Unit Exercise in mid-July.
