Expeditionary Strike Group SEVEN/Task Force 76 (Amphibious Force U.S. SEVENTH Fleet) is a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

task force A task force (TF) is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology. Many ...

. It is part of the

United States Seventh Fleet The Seventh Fleet is a numbered fleet of the United States Navy. It is headquartered at U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is part of the United States Pacific Fleet. At present, it is the largest of the ...

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 most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, Japan. CTF 76 conducts operations throughout the U.S. Seventh Fleet area of operations, which includes the

Western Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

and the Indian Ocean.

History

10 January 1943 – Southwest Pacific Amphibious Forces – later called the Seventh Amphibious Force is formed in Brisbane, Australia. Participated in Operation Chronicle, the

landing at Lae The Landing at Lae was an amphibious landing to the east of Lae and then the subsequent advance on the town during the Salamaua–Lae campaign of World War II. Part of Operation Postern, which was undertaken to capture the Japanese base a ...

, the landing at Scarlet Beach at

Finschhafen Finschhafen is a town east of Lae on the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. The town is commonly misspelt as Finschafen or Finschaven. During World War II, the town was also referred to as Fitch Haven in the logs of some U. ...

, Battle of Arawe and Battle of Cape Gloucester on the island of

New Britain New Britain () is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi Island, Umboi the Dampie ...

, 1944 – Participated in the landing at Hollandia,

landing at Aitape The Landing at Aitape (code-named Operation Persecution) was a battle of the Western New Guinea campaign of World War II. American and Allies of World War II, Allied forces undertook an amphibious landing on 22 April 1944 at Aitape on the norther ...

, landing at Saidor and Admiralty Islands campaign. 1950 – Supported UN during

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

by stationing ships at Inchon and

Wonsan Wonsan (), previously known as Wonsanjin (), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwon Province (North Korea), Kangwon Province, North Korea, along the eastern side of the Korean Peninsula, on the Sea of Japan and the provincial capital. ...

. 1954 – CTF 76 participated in

Operation Passage to Freedom Operation Passage to Freedom was a term used by the United States Navy to describe the propaganda effort and the assistance in transporting 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist No ...

, the largest operation of its kind in history. The operation evacuated 310,000 people from communist-controlled North Vietnam to South Vietnam and carried 58,000 tons of cargo and humanitarian aid. 1965 – Participated in amphibious landings, assaults and demonstrations off the eastern coast of the Republic of Vietnam. Also cleared mines off the Vietnamese coast toward the end of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

. Amphibious Ready Group Alpha, and its U.S. Marine contingent "Special Landing Force Alpha" or SLF-A (often referred to as the "Sluff", during the Vietnam era) formed Task Group 76.4. TG 76.4 consisted of various support vessels, such as Landing Platform, Helicopter (LPHs) such as the , or . Other vessels included LSTs (Landing Ship Tank) or LSD (Landing Ship Dock) supported a reinforced Marine Corps battalion referred to as a Battalion Landing Team (BLT). The Marine elements of the Group were referred to as Special Landing Force Alpha which itself consisted of the BLT and a Marine Helicopter Squadron. The ARG also included an Amphibious Group Command Ship (AGC) or the Amphibious Communication and Command Ship (LCC) which carried the Commander Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet and command and communications support facilities. Three AGCs and one LCC rotated to the Western Pacific and all four were involved in the amphibious landings by the LCC/AGC/SLF in Vietnam. The one LCC was and the three AGCs were , and . 1971 – Homeported to Okinawa, Japan 1975 – Rescued more than 100,000 people from Phnom Penh and Saigon (including in Operation Eagle Pull). Also assisted in recovery of the American-flagged SS ''Mayaguez'' after it was hijacked by the Cambodian

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK), and by extension to Democratic Kampuchea, which ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name was coined in the 1960s by Norodom Sihano ...

in the

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand (), historically known as the Gulf of Siam (), is a shallow inlet adjacent to the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. ...

. 1983 – Transited to

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

to support multi-national forces in

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. 1999 – Belleau Wood Amphibious Ready Group completed no-notice five-month deployment to

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

for Operation Desert Fox. 2000 – and complete humanitarian mission to

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

supporting Australian-led forces. Continued missions until East Timor became 191st member of United Nations in 2002. 2004 – and deploy to Indonesia in support of Operation Unified Assistance to provide support and aid to the victims of the 26 December tsunami in Southeast Asia. 2005 – Forward Deployed Amphibious Ready Group returns to Sasebo, Japan following unscheduled eight-month surge deployment to North Persian Gulf in support of

Operation Iraqi Freedom The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with the invasion by a United States-led coalition, which resulted in the overthrow of the Ba'athist governm ...

and the Global War on Terrorism. 2005 – Forward Deployed ARG deploys for Fall Patrol. Conduct Amphibious Landing Exercise/Talon Vision (PHIBLEX/TV) 06 in the Republic of Philippines and then make a port visit to Hong Kong. 2006 – Forward Deployed ARG deploys for 5-month Spring Patrol, participating in TRUEX/MUEX in Guam, Balikatan 06 in the Republic of Philippines, Foal Eagle 06 in the

Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

(ROK) and Cobra Gold in the Kingdom of Thailand. 2006 – and embarked Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 5 Detachment (Det) 51 complete Summer Patrol throughout Southeast Asia, participating in Cobra Gold and WP-MCMEX in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, while making port visits to

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

, Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong. 2007 – Forward Deployed ARG participates in joint exercises with the Republic of Korea, Kingdom of Thailand, Australia, Japan, Kingdom of Cambodia, Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Republic of the Philippines. Task Force 76 units also participated in Operation Sea Angel II, a disaster response mission in the People's Republic of Bangladesh. 2009 – Between 7 August and 18 October, Task Force 76 assigned forces supported Foreign Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations in Taiwan, Indonesia and the Republic of the Philippines. 2011 – Operation TOMODACHI: , , and were positioned off of north eastern Honshu to assist the disaster recovery efforts in conjunction with the Japan Self Defense Force. 2011 – assisted in flood relief efforts in Thailand along with elements of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. 2012 – Task Force 76 and assigned units directly participated in 12 bi-lateral exercises including Balikatan, Amphibious Landing Exercise, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Exercise in the Republic of the Philippines, Cobra Gold in Thailand, Foal Eagle, Clear Horizon and Korean Interoperability Training Program in the Republic of Korea, Valiant Shied, Terminal Fury and Keen Sword in Japan.

Forward-deployed CTF 76 ships and commands

CTF 76 consists of the following units:

U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan

U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo, Japan

* Amphibious Squadron ELEVEN * * '' USS New Orleans (LPD-18)'' * * * * Mine Countermeasure Squadron SEVEN * * * * * Naval Beach Unit SEVEN * Assault Craft Unit ONE, Detachment Western Pacific * Assault Craft Unit FIVE, Detachment Western Pacific * Beach Master Unit ONE, Detachment Western Pacific

Okinawa, Japan

* Fleet Surgical Team SEVEN * Tactical Air Squadron TWELVE, Detachment Western Pacific

Pohang, Republic of Korea

* Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 14, Detachment ONE

Guam, United States

* Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron TWO FIVE

Transiting Amphibious Ready Groups

United States-based Amphibious Ready Groups which pass through the U.S. Seventh Fleet area of operations fall under the operational control of CTF 76.

Task Force / Amphibious Group Commanders to present

References

Command History, Seventh Amphibious Force, 10 January 1943 – 23 December 1945
* MacArthur's Amphibious Navy ~ Seventh Amphibious Force Operations 1943–1945, Vice Admiral Danie E. Barbey, USN (Ret), 1969 * Action Report – Iwo Jima, February, 1945
Navy amphibious force welcomes new commander – Date: 7/28/2003

Task Force 76 Holds Change of Command in Okinawa – Date: 10/22/2004

ESG 7/CTF 76 Changes Command – Date: 11/27/2006

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20151222155305/http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=76461 Amphibious Force, US 7th Fleet Holds Change of Command Ceremony – Date: 9/10/2013
Amphibious Force US 7th Fleet Holds Change of Command – Date: 8/31/2015

Amphibious Force 7th Fleet Changes Command - Date: 8/03/2016

New commander of Navy 7th Fleet’s amphibious forces takes over - Date: 1/24/2018

External links

{{commons category, Task Force 76/Expeditionary Strike Group 7
Commander Task Force 76 News

Task Force 76/Expeditionary Strike Group 7 - [Link no longer functioning]

United States Navy task forces Military units and formations established in the 1940s