Washington: The readiness rate of amphibious ships critical to Marine missions has dropped to 41%, a defence official said, as thousands of Marines and sailors are being sent to Latin America and the Caribbean amid the Trump administration’s ramped-up effort to combat drug cartels.
The lack of available amphibious warfare ships, known as amphibs, resulted in a more than five-month gap in Marine Expeditionary Unit deployments this year. The 31st MEU completed its last patrol aboard the America Amphibious Ready Group in early March.
A US official said the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group is currently sailing off the coast of the Carolinas to avoid Hurricane Erin. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment on the deployment, said the ships’ entrance into Caribbean waters had been delayed by the storm. Forecasters predict the storm will remain a large, major hurricane into midweek.
The decline in amphib readiness highlights the Navy’s inability to tackle major fleet maintenance issues plaguing the force at a time when the Trump administration has been eager to increase military options available to the president to carry out his Make America Great Again agenda.
The president has said he wants to strengthen the military while tackling immigration issues and stopping illicit drugs from entering the United States.
The three amphib ships that are deployed are carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines. They include the amphibious assault flagship Iwo Jima (LHD 7), along with the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships San Antonio (LPD 17) and Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28).
CNN reported that the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit set sail for US Southern Command to give the president a broad range of military options should he choose to target drug cartels.
The Trump administration designated Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel as well as Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua as global terrorist organisations in February, and in recent months deployed at least two destroyers to help with border security and counter-narcotics efforts.
