Sam LaGrone – July 17, 2024 6:49 PM
USS Boxer (LHD-4) leaving San Diego on July 16, 2024. San Diego Web Cam Photo
Amphibious warship USS Boxer (LHD-4) is underway and has resumed its deployment after an emergency rudder repair, USNI News has learned.
Boxer left San Diego, Calif., on Tuesday, according to ship spotters. Boxer was there after a brief port visit to fuel and crane off an MV-22B that was damaged in a deck-handling mishap, a Navy spokesperson told USNI News.
“Following a successful operational test of its rudders, the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD-4) and embarked elements of the 15 Marine Expeditionary Unit departed San Diego, conducting pre-deployment training and operations in U.S. 3rd Fleet,” reads a July 14 statement to USNI News.
“It remains on schedule for an Indo-Pacific deployment.”
Now, Boxer will continue its deployment that paused in April after the big deck’s starboard rudder was damaged. The April start for Boxer and amphibious warship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) was already three months after USS Somerset (LPD-25) left San Diego in January.
Among the exercises Somerset and the embarked 15th MEU participated in were Cobra Gold in Thailand, U.S.-Philippines exercise Balikatan 2024 in the Philippines and U.S.-Malaysia exercise Tiger Strike 2024 in Malaysia. Harpers Ferry joined Somerset for Balikatan in May for the first operational deployment of the Amphibious Combat Vehicle.
Navy officials would not outline the deployment, but Somerset and Harpers Ferry are both operating in the vicinity of Hawaii. Somerset is currently part of the Rim of the Pacific 2024 exercise.
“Nearly 1,400 U.S. Marines assigned to the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and Sailors assigned to the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock Somerset will participate [in the exercise],” reads a statement from the Marine Corps.
Marines with the 15th MEU arrived in Hawaii aboard USS Germantown (LSD-42) to join the exercise, according to the service.