Iwo Jima Completes Six Month Deployment

Nearly 1,200 Sailors aboard the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) returned to their homeport of Mayport, Fla., Aug. 9, following a six-month deployment to the U.S. 5th and U.S. 6th Fleet areas of operations.
Deployed since Feb. 7 as part of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), the ship provided a ready, versatile amphibious assault capability and vigilant maritime presence to U.S. 5th and U.S. 6th Fleet, participating in exercises Juniper Cobra and Eager Lion. It also hosted a 10-day embarkation of 10 Egyptian naval officers to discuss concepts of amphibious naval operations and strengthen partner nation capabilities.
Iwo Jima transited more than 31,400 nautical miles, used more than one million gallons of JP-5 fuel, received more than 3,100 pallets of cargo and logged 1,119 flight hours, flying approximately 10,100 sorties.
Amphibious craft completed 2,256 passenger transfers and moved more than 7,000 tons of equipment to and from the shore.
For more than half of the Sailors aboard Iwo Jima, the six-month journey served as their first deployment.
Iwo Jima made port calls in Haifa, Limassol, Aqaba and Malaga.