Task Force 76

Expeditionary Strike Group SEVEN/Task Force 76 (Amphibious Force U.S. SEVENTH Fleet) is a United States Navy task force. It is at one and the same time operationally a Task Force of the United States Seventh Fleet and administratively, 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, Japan.

CTF 76 conducts operations throughout the U.S. Seventh Fleet area of operations, which includes the Western Pacific Ocean 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 Scarlet Beach at Finschhafen, Battle of Arawe and Battle of Cape Gloucester on the island of New Britain,

1944 – Participated in the landing at Saidor and Admiralty Islands campaign.

1950 – Supported UN during Korean War by stationing ships at Inchon and Wonsan.

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.

Amphibious Ready Group Alpha with USS Princeton (LPH-5) off Vietnam, in 1968.

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. 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 USS Princeton (LPH-5), USS Okinawa (LPH-3) or USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2). 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 USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) and the three AGCs were USS Eldorado (AGC-11), USS Estes (AGC-12) and USS Mount McKinley (AGC-7).

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 in the Gulf of Thailand.

1983 – Transited to Suez Canal to support multi-national forces in Lebanon.

1999 – Belleau Wood Amphibious Ready Group completed no-notice five-month deployment to Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Fox.

2000 – USS Belleau Wood and USS Juneau complete humanitarian mission to East Timor supporting Australian-led forces. Continued missions until East Timor became 191st member of United Nations in 2002.

2004 – USS Essex and USS Fort McHenry 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 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 (ROK) and Cobra Gold in the Kingdom of Thailand.

2006 – USS Patriot 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, while making port visits to Brunei, Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong.^[1]

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: USS Essex (LHD-2), USS Tortuga (LSD-46), USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) and USS Germantown (LSD-42) were positioned off of north eastern Honshu to assist the disaster recovery efforts in conjunction with the Japan Self Defense Force.

2011 – USS Tortuga (LSD-46) 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

U.S. Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan

• USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)

U.S. Fleet Activities Sasebo, Japan

• Amphibious Squadron ELEVEN
• USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6)
• USS Green Bay (LPD-20)
• USS Germantown (LSD-42)
• USS Ashland (LSD-48)
• Mine Countermeasure Squadron SEVEN
• USS Patriot (MCM-7)
• USS Pioneer (MCM-9)
• USS Warrior (MCM-10)
• 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.

• USS Boxer ARG (Transit February 2009)

Task Force / Amphibious Group Commanders

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
• Amphibious Force 7th Fleet Changes Command – Date: 6/23/2008
• 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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Task Force 76/Expeditionary Strike Group 7.

• Commander Task Force 76 News
• Task Force 76/Expeditionary Strike Group 7
• Papers of John M. Lee, commanded the Amphibious Force of the Seventh Fleet in the Pacific, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library