Bold Alligator is a multinational

littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...

warfare exercise hosted by the United States. It has been held annually since 2011. In 2012, it involved 14,000 marines, sailors, airmen and soldiers, encompassing more than 25 ships and involving eleven countries, with Canada, Mexico, UK, France, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, Australia, and other allied nations participating at sea, on land, and in the air, at

Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune () is a United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Its of beaches make the base a major area for amphibious assault training, and its location between two deep-water ports ( Wilmingt ...

, North Carolina and in Virginia. In 2014 the exercise involved 19 countries: *United Kingdom *Canada *United States *Mexico *Peru *Brazil *Chile *Spain *France *Germany *Belgium *Italy *Netherlands *Denmark *Sweden *Turkey *Japan *Australia *Norway

Bold Alligator 2012

Bold Alligator 2012 (BA12) was the second annual joint and multinational amphibious assault exercise sponsored by the

U.S. Fleet Forces Command The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFF) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United Stat ...

and the U.S. Marine Forces Command. Held from 30 January to 12 February 2012, Bold Alligator 2012 was the largest amphibious assault exercise held on the east coast of the United States since 2002. Its objective was the revitalization of U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps amphibious expeditionary tactics, techniques, and procedures, as well as the reinvigoration of combined Navy and Marine Corps operations from the sea. This live and synthetic, scenario-driven, simulation-supported exercise focused on the six core capabilities set forth in the current U.S. maritime strategy - forward presence, deterrence, sea control, power projection, maritime security, and humanitarian assistance/disaster response. Bold Alligator 2012 served as a key pre-deployment training exercises for Expeditionary Strike Group Two, the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, and

Carrier Strike Group Twelve Carrier Strike Group Twelve (CSG-12 or CARSTRKGRU 12) is one of four U.S. Navy carrier strike groups currently assigned to the United States Fleet Forces Command. Carrier strike groups gain and maintain sea control as well as project naval airpow ...

. Additionally, nine countries participated in this exercise, providing maritime, land, and air units or observers from Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Bold Alligator 2012 was held ashore and afloat, in and off the coasts of Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida, and it culminated in three large-scale operations - an amphibious assault at

; an aerial assault from the sea into

Fort Pickett Fort Pickett is a Virginia Army National Guard installation, located near the town of Blackstone, Virginia. Home of the Army National Guard Maneuver Training Center, Fort Pickett is named for the United States Army officer and Confederate Gen ...

; and an amphibious raid on

Joint Expeditionary Base East Joint Expeditionary Base-Fort Story, commonly called simply Fort Story is a sub-installation of Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek–Fort Story, which is operated by the United States Navy. Located in the independent city of Virginia Beach, Vir ...

. Bold Alligator 2012 served as the Joint Task Force Exercise for Carrier Strike Group Twelve, the final pre-deployment training exercises needed to receive its combat-readiness certification. During this month-long underway period, Carrier Air Wing completed 3,830 flight hours, made 2,052 arrested landings, and received a 96 percent sortie completion rate. This included a single-day total of 107 sorties flown on 6 February 2012 during the amphibious assault phase of Bold Alligator 2012.

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Bold Alligator
Bold Alligator 2012 briefing: Admiral John C. Harvey, Commander, US Fleet Forces Command, and LtGen Dennis J. Hejlik, Commander, US Marine Forces Command, 31 January 2012.
- Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. Date accessed, 10 April 2012. Military exercises involving the United States 2011 establishments in the United States Recurring events established in 2011