The amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima is seen Aug. 19, 2025, returning to Naval Station Norfolk, Va., due to Hurricane Erin. (X/John Morgan)
The Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group returned stateside earlier this week as a hurricane in the western Atlantic Ocean threatened high winds and large swells along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.
The amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima was photographed by a ship spotter on Tuesday as the vessel returned to Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia. The group includes the amphibious transport dock ships USS Fort Lauderdale and USS San Antonio, which also arrived in Norfolk, USNI News reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed Navy official.
The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit also is part of the group, which comprises more than 4,500 Marines and sailors, according to the Navy.
The ships returned to “stay safe” from the hurricane, the official told USNI.
Over the weekend, Erin intensified to a major hurricane but later weakened, downgrading to a Category 2 storm early Wednesday, with maximum sustained winds of about 100 mph, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.
The hurricane was not expected to make landfall, but the center warned against swimming at most U.S East Coast beaches due to the potential for “life-threatening surf and rip currents.”
The ARG’s return came just five days after it departed Norfolk on what the Navy said was a regularly scheduled deployment. It was the first deployment for a U.S. amphibious ready group in eight months, according to USNI.
The group had traveled to waters off the North Carolina coast to onload the Marine expeditionary unit. It wasn’t clear whether that embark was completed, USNI reported.
The Navy didn’t say in a statement Friday where the group was headed. But Reuters and CNN, citing unidentified U.S. officials, reported that it was deployed to waters around Latin America and the Caribbean to fight drug cartels.
Additionally, the destroyers USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham and USS Sampson were being deployed near Venezuela over the coming months as part of President Donald Trump’s counternarcotics strategy, The Associated Press reported Tuesday, citing an unidentified U.S. official.
Also on Tuesday, the Navy said a U.S. Coast Guard detachment embarked on USS Sampson had interdicted a suspected drug smuggling vessel Aug. 11 in international waters, seizing nearly 1,300 pounds of cocaine.
The Navy said the ship was operating in a known drug trafficking corridor but did not specify where the interdiction occurred.
