Expeditionary Strike Group 3 is an expeditionary strike group (ESG) of the U.S. Navy. Expeditionary strike groups combine the capabilities of surface action groups, submarines, and maritime patrol aircraft with those of Amphibious Ready Groups for deployment and maintaining staff proficiencies to provide fleet commanders with a highly flexible, ready fly-away unit.[1] It is capable of projecting expeditionary striking power in the maritime, littoral, and inlandenvirons in support of U.S. national interests.[2]
The mission of Expeditionary Strike Group 3 is to provide amphibious expertise and a deployable staff for combat and contingency operations in support of the nation's interests and maritime strategy. The staff advocate for the readiness and employment of U.S. amphibious forces across the full spectrum of military operations.
Expeditionary Strike Group 3 can trace its origins to Amphibious Group 3 (PHIBGRU 3).
PhibGru 3 was probably active during World War II and was definitely active by 1945; at Eniwetok on 7 September 1945, revised orders directed USSBayfield(APA-33) to Tacloban in the Philippines, where she arrived on 14 September and reported to Commander Amphibious Group 3 for duty in the occupation of Aomori, Japan. On 17 September Bayfield embarked soldiers and equipment of the U.S. 81st Infantry Division. The landings at Aomori took place according to schedule on 25 September 1945. With the outbreak of the Korean war in June 1950, USSEldorado(AGC-11) was ordered to the Far East. As flagship for Rear Admiral Lyman A. Thackrey, Commander, Amphibious Group 3, she acted as standby for Mount McKinley (AGC-7) during the invasion of Inchon, Korea, and coordinated and controlled the logistics operations.
In 1978, Amphibious Group Eastern Pacific (PHIBGRUEASTPAC) at San Diego consisted of Amphibious Squadrons 1, 3, 5, and 7, all at San Diego.[4] Early in 1987, the Thirteenth Edition of Ships and Aircraft still listed PhibGruEastPac at San Diego with the same four squadrons, but Amphibious Squadron 7 had moved to Long Beach, Ca. PhibGru 3 was reestablished on 1 October 1984 by redesignating Amphibious Group, Eastern Pacific. On 1 August 1986, COMPHIBGRU 3 was reorganized into three assault squadrons and two non-deploying readiness squadrons.
Operation Desert Shield
In December 1990, the 13-ship Amphibious Task Force became the largest to sail from the West Coast since 1965 when it set sail in support of Operation Desert Shield. The Task Force reached the north Arabian Sea and was joined by its East Coast counterpart and together they had a total of 31 amphibious ships, four combat logistics ships and eight supporting merchant ships, thus forming the largest Amphibious assault force since the Korean War. COMPHIBGRU 3 participated in what is considered as the major amphibious operation of the Gulf War when in February 1991, together with the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, it landed more than 6,500 United States Marines at Al Mishab, Saudi Arabia, just south of the Kuwait-Iraq border.
COMPHIBGRU 3 was to participate in numerous humanitarian assistance operations after Operation Desert Storm came to an end.
Somali Civil War
During the Somali Civil War, COMPHIBGRU 3 participated in various operations, Operation Restore Hope, Operation Continue Hope and Operation United Shield. In Operation Restore Hope the force acted as a Maritime Prepositioning Force – based at the Mogadishu Port Facility and in January 1995, the force played the role of Commander, Naval Forces, during the final withdraw of UN forces from Somalia.
1995–2000
Expeditionary Strike Group 3 Flotilla
From 1995 to 1998 COMPHIBGRU 3 participated in various naval exercises. Amongst them Exercise Cooperation from the Sea (1995) with the Russian Navy, exercises with Jordanian forces (1996) embarking landing craft from the United Arab Emirates for the first time in U.S. Navy history, Exercise Native Fury in Kuwait (1998), Exercise Freedom Banner in Korea (In October 1998, the command absorbed Naval Inshore Undersea Warfare Group 1 and redesignated Naval Coastal Warfare Group 1) and in (2000) Exercise Natural Fire in Mombasa, Kenya.
Operation Iraqi Freedom
In 2003, COMPHIBGRU 3 provided the forces and stood up as Commander Task Force 51 to execute a multitude of the Naval Component Commander's assigned missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition to the deployments in support of OIF, CPG-3 also deployed the first expeditionary strike group, Expeditionary Strike Group 1, on board USSPeleliu in August 2003. ESG 1 participated directly in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. ESG 1 didn't return from the Middle East until March 2004.
In November 2003, Marine Brigadier General Joseph V. Medina took command of Expeditionary Strike Group 3. This event marked the first time in history that a United States Marine Corps officer took command of a naval formation.[5]
In Operation Iraqi Freedom Two (OIF II), included a host of amphibious and maritime ships whose mission was to substitute Marines from the I Marine Expeditionary Force with troops from the United States Army's 1st Infantry. To support the OIF II Force Rotation Plan and the First Marine Expeditionary Force's deployment to relieve the 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq, Commander Amphibious Group 3, Rear Adm. W. C. Marsh, and his San Diego-based staff deployed into the Fifth Fleet Area of Operations. Marsh assumed duties as Commander Task Force 51 (CTF 51) and began overseeing amphibious operations in the area.[6]
On 17 April 2007, Amphibious Group 3 was reorganised as Expeditionary Strike Group Three in San Diego. Unlike Commander, Amphibious Group 3, which provided ships with manning, training and material support, ESG 3 was to be strictly operational, preparing ESG forces for deployment and maintaining proficiencies as a staff to provide fleet commanders with a ready fly-away command element that is extremely flexible in mission assignment.[7]
USS Peleliu (LHA-5) is a Tarawa-class amphibious assault ship of the United States Navy, named for the Battle of Peleliu of World War II. Entering service in 1980, she has been deployed to the Persian Gulf on several occasions, performed an evacuation of U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, operated with the INTERFET peacekeeping taskforce, participated in Pacific Partnership deployments, and provided assistance following the massive floods in Pakistan in 2010. She was decommissioned in San Diego, California on 31 March 2015. She currently rests, out of commission and in reserve, at NAVSEA Inactive Ships On-site Maintenance Office, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii alongside USS Tarawa in the inactive reserve in case of further need.
A Marine expeditionary unit is the smallest air-ground task force (MAGTF) in the United States Fleet Marine Force. Each MEU is an expeditionary rapid reaction force ready to answer any crisis, whether it be disaster aid or a combat mission. Marine amphibious unit (MAU) was the name used until the late 1980s.
The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, Hawaii, with large secondary facilities at Naval Air Station North Island, California.
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The Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) is an echelon III command of the United States Navy, which serves as the single functional command to centrally manage current and future readiness, resources, manning, training and equipping of the United States Navy's 21,000 expeditionary forces who are currently serving in every theater of operation. The NECC was established in January 2006. NECC is a subordinate command of the Navy's Fleet Forces Command.
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Mark William Balmert is retired United States Navy rear admiral. His last command was the joint Navy and Marine Corps Expeditionary Strike Group 3. He retired from the Navy in 2008 and joined Northrop Grumman as a Strategic Senior Consulting Manager.
In the United States Navy, the expeditionary strike group (ESG) is a coordinated group of surface ships, aircraft, submarines, and other naval assets. In contrast to carrier strike groups (CSGs), which emphasize air power and are led by a supercarrier, ESGs are strongly suited for amphibious warfare and are led by an amphibious assault ship. The ESG concept was introduced in the early 1990s, based on the Naval Expeditionary Task Force. The U.S. Navy fields nine expeditionary strike groups.
Expeditionary Strike Group SEVEN/Task Force 76 is a United States Navy task force. It is part of the United States Seventh Fleet and the USN's only permanently forward-deployed expeditionary strike group. It is based at the White Beach Naval Facility at the end of the Katsuren Peninsula in Uruma City, Okinawa, Japan.
Carol M. Pottenger is a retired United States Navy flag officer. She was among the first women to be assigned to serve at sea in 1978, the first female admiral to command a major combat organization, Amphibious Force 7th Fleet/Expeditionary Strike Group Seven, encompassing the amphibious forces assigned to the western Pacific; and the first female admiral to lead a combatant force "type command", Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, charged with the manning, training and equipping of over 40,000 expeditionary sailors in preparation for combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as global security assistance operations. Her final naval post was with NATO as deputy chief of staff for capability and development at Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, Norfolk, Virginia, the first female officer to hold this position.
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