The USS Makin Island amphibious ready group has quietly departed San Diego with 2,200 Pendleton Marines, apparently headed to the Middle East to join the Boxer group.
The Makin Island, an amphibious assault ship with stealth jets, helicopters and tiltrotors, left San Diego on Tuesday afternoon, according to the U.S. Naval Institute, a nonprofit military association.
Accompanying the Makin Island were the amphibious transport dock ships USS John P. Murtha and USS Anchorage.
The ships are carrying Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Pendleton in addition to Navy crews.
Earlier this week the San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt deployed for the Middle East accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin.
The deployments could mean that three aircraft carriers and two amphibious assault groups will be positioned off Iran as early as the end of October at a time when President Trump is threatening further action against Iran.
The Navy did not announce the ship movements or their destination, but the Associated Press reported Thursday that the San Diego-based warships are headed to the Middle East.
The carriers USS George H.W. Bush and the USS George Washington are in the region now, along with the Boxer group. The Washington is typically deployed to Pacific Ocean, but it was moved to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose arduous deployment resulted in the crew being at sea for more than 260 days straight.
