Kearsarge Celebrates 240 Years of Navy’s Pride
The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) flagship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) celebrated the Navy’s 240th birthday Oct. 13, 2015.
The Kearsarge ARG team is comprised of the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD 3), the amphibious dock landing ship USS Oak Hill (LSD 51), the amphibious transport dock ship USS Arlington (LPD 24), and embarked Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), which departed the U.S. on October 6, 2015.
Kearsarge celebrated the event with 1MC announcements throughout the day, a cake cutting and singing during a ceremony aboard.
The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (26th MEU) is one of seven Marine Expeditionary Units currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Expeditionary Unit is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force with strength of about 2,200 personnel. The MEU consists of four major parts: a command element, a ground combat element, an aviation combat element, and a logistics element.
While in U.S. 6th Fleet, the three ships of the Kearsarge ARG and Marines of the 26th MEU will participate in theatre security cooperation events and exercises before continuing to 5th Fleet.
Modern U.S. Navy Amphibious Assault Ships project power and maintain presence by serving as the cornerstone of the Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG) / Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG). These ships transport and land elements of the Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) or Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) with a combination of aircraft and landing craft. A Marine Expeditionary Unit missions range from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to major theater war.