Amphib USS Boxer Deploys to Join Naval Buildup in Mideast
The U.S. Navy has dispatched the amphibious assault vessel USS Boxer and her escorts from California to the Mideast, where they will be on hand for ongoing hostilities with Iran. Boxer will be the second Wasp-class amphib to arrive in the region, following the USS Tripoli, currently under way in the eastern Indian Ocean.
Boxer and Tripoli bring a combination of capabilities to the fight. As "big-deck" amphibs, they can carry the Marine Corps' F-35B fighter, the vertical takeoff and landing variant of the Lightning II stealth fighter. While limited in range compared to the Navy's carrier-borne F-35C, the F-35B would add capability to the fight. While the design is not invulnerable - Iran hit and damaged an F-35 on Thursday morning - the aircraft are much harder to track than conventional fighters.
The vessels' core capability is in launching and supporting Marine Corps amphibious assault operations. The White House has floated the possibility of seizing one or more of Iran's islands in the Arabian Gulf as part of a mission to open the Strait of Hormuz, but on Thursday, President Donald Trump appeared to rule out this form of a "boots on the ground" operation. "I'm not putting troops anywhere," he said.
USS Tripoli departed the Philippine Sea last week and got under way with Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard, headed for the Mideast to augment the capabilities of carriers USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln.
USS Boxer - accompanied by USS Comstock, USS Portland, and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit - departed San Diego on Wednesday, satellite imaging shows. Four officials confirmed to Newsmax that the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group departed earlier than originally planned, responding to a request from the Pentagon for more combat capability. From her location on the eastern side of the Pacific, Boxer is at least three weeks of steaming away from the combat zone; her late arrival suggests planning for a longer Navy/Marine Corps presence in the region.
Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Rushmore is expected to deploy from Japan to join Tripoli. USS San Diego, the third vessel in the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group, is remaining behind for maintenance, Newsmax reports.
that matters most
Get the latest maritime news delivered to your inbox daily.
The Navy's amphib fleet is aging, and has had repair challenges. USS Boxer encountered years of difficulties with maintenance, including repeated problems with her steam plant propulsion system and her rudder. The Navy has made moves to address the problems with revised procedures for amphib yard periods.
Per a Navy contracting solicitation released in 2024, Boxer was originally scheduled to be in drydock for most of this year for major depot maintenance, a process planned years in advance. That selected restricted availability (SRA) is now scheduled for February 2027 through October 2028, according to a Navy RFP released earlier this month.