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 maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

task force. 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 ...

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 The is a peninsula on Okinawa Island. It is bordered by Nakagusuku Bay to the south, Kin Bay to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the east.South China Morning PostThe stunning fortresses of Okinawa have endured centuries of conflict , Post ...

in Uruma City,

Okinawa is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 Square kilometre, km2 (880 sq mi). ...

, 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 definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

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 at L ...

, 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.S ...

Battle of Arawe The Battle of Arawe (also known as Operation Director) was fought between Allied and Japanese forces during the New Britain campaign of World War II. The battle formed part of the Allied Operation Cartwheel, and had the objective of serving as ...

and Battle of Cape Gloucester on the island of

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) 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 the D ...

, 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 Allied forces undertook an amphibious landing on 22 April 1944 at Aitape on northern coast of Papua New Guine ...

landing at Saidor The landing at Saidor, codenamed Operation Michaelmas, was an Allied amphibious landing at Saidor, Papua New Guinea on 2 January 1944 as part of Operation Dexterity during World War II. In Allied hands, Saidor was a stepping stone towards Ma ...

and

Admiralty Islands campaign The Admiralty Islands campaign (Operation Brewer) was a series of battles in the New Guinea campaign of World War II in which the United States Army's 1st Cavalry Division took the Japanese-held Admiralty Islands. Acting on reports from ai ...

. 1950 – Supported UN during

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

by stationing ships at Inchon and

Wonsan Wŏnsan (), previously known as Wŏnsanjin (), Port Lazarev, and Genzan (), is a port city and naval base located in Kangwŏn 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 Passage to Freedom, the largest operation of its kind in history. 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 (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. 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 Operation Eagle Pull was the United States military evacuation by air of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on 12 April 1975. At the beginning of April 1975, Phnom Penh, one of the last remaining strongholds of the Khmer Republic, was surrounded by the Khmer ...

). Also assisted in recovery of the American-flagged

SS Mayaguez SS ''Mayaguez '' was a U.S.- flagged container ship that attained notoriety for its 12 May 1975 seizure by Khmer Rouge forces of Cambodia, which resulted in a confrontation with the United States at the close of the Vietnam War. Service histo ...

after it was hijacked by the Cambodian

Khmer Rouge The Khmer Rouge (; ; km, ខ្មែរក្រហម, ; ) is the name that was popularly given to members of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK) and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 ...

in the

Gulf of Thailand The Gulf of Thailand, also known as the Gulf of Siam, is a shallow inlet in the southwestern South China Sea, bounded between the southwestern shores of the Indochinese Peninsula and the northern half of the Malay Peninsula. It is around in le ...

. 1983 – Transited to

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popula ...

to support multi-national forces in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

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

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...

for

Operation Desert Fox The 1998 bombing of Iraq (code-named Operation Desert Fox) was a major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from 16 to 19 December 1998, by the United States and the United Kingdom. On 16 December 1998, President of the United States Bill ...

. 2000 – and complete humanitarian mission to

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-w ...

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 Operation Unified Assistance was the American military's humanitarian response to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. On 28 December 2004, elements of the Combined Support Force were deployed to U-Tapao International Airport in Thailand ...

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 is a core city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. It is also the second largest city in Nagasaki Prefecture, after its capital, Nagasaki. On 1 June 2019, the city had an estimated population of 247,739 and a population density of 581 persons p ...

following unscheduled eight-month surge deployment to North Persian Gulf in support of

Operation Iraqi Freedom {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

and the

Global War on Terrorism The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...

. 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, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...

(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. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

, while making port visits to

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by th ...

, 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

* ttp://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

Pensapedia Wiki - Rear Admiral Gary Jones

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