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Nassau carrying Ospreys to Iraq

NORFOLK, Va. — It turns out the Nassau Expeditionary Strike Group has embarked Marine aviation after all, albeit a much smaller element than first anticipated.

Soon after the amphibious assault ship Nassau left Hampton Roads, Va., on Feb. 20, two MV-22 Ospreys based in North Carolina landed on the flight deck for transport to the Middle East.

Dennis Neal, deputy spokesman for Marine Corps Forces Command in Norfolk, said the two tilt-rotors will join the squadron already on the ground in Iraq. Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263, also known as the Thunder Chickens, has been operating from Al Asad Air Base in western Iraq since early October.

“Two Ospreys are being ferried by the Navy to round out the contingent of V-22s on the ground in Iraq,” he said, adding that Marine aircrews are deploying with the aircraft.

He said the aircraft are not being sent to make up for any losses or deficiencies.

“The two Ospreys are neither replacements nor to take care of any slack that exists there,” he said.

The Nassau ESG includes the dock landing ship Ashland, the amphibious transport dock Nashville, cruiser Philippine Sea, destroyers Ross and Bulkeley and the attack submarine Albany.

After the ESG trained with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit for a traditional blue-green deployment, Navy officials acknowledged in late January that the Marine air-ground team would instead spend six months on the ground in Afghanistan, arriving this spring by airlift and their equipment transported by a fast sealift ship manned by civilian mariners.

For the next six months, the ships of the strike group are expected to conduct maritime security operations and theater security cooperation missions in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Some have been tapped to provide presence in the eastern Mediterranean during tensions with Syria and Lebanon.

DISCUSS: Why all the confusion?