A U.S. Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II takes off from the flight deck of the USS Boxer in the Pacific Ocean on March 28, 2026. (Joseph Helms/U.S. Marine Corps)
Up to 2,500 Marines and three Navy ships that deployed from San Diego last week have arrived in Hawaii, en route to a possible mission in the Middle East.
The Boxer leads the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group. This Wasp-class amphibious assault ship can carry F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters, MV-22B Osprey tiltrotors and various helicopters.
USNI News reported the Boxer arrived Sunday at Pearl Harbor, accompanied by the amphibious transport dock ship USS Portland and the dock landing ship USS Comstock. They are carrying up to 2,500 Marines of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Pendleton.
The Boxer was shown passing the retired USS Missouri late Sunday afternoon at Pearl Harbor in an X post from @warshipcam.
U.S. Marines with Battalion Landing Team 3/5, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, conduct fire-team patrolling tactics training aboard Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Comstock in the Pacific Ocean, March 24, 2026. (Trent A. Henry/U.S. Marine Corps)
Navy photographs released this week show the Marines training in the Pacific Ocean in jets, helicopters and small boats. The Marine Corps posted photos on X of rapid-reload infantry firearms training by Marines below deck aboard the Boxer.
The Boxer group was deployed a week after the USS Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group was ordered from the western Pacific near Japan to the Central Command area of responsibility, which includes Iran.
The USS Tripoli arrived in the Middle East on Friday, U.S. Central Command announced in a post to its X account Saturday.
The Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship, leads the group. The group includes amphibious transport dock USS New Orleans, and elements of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit of about 2,500 Marines.
USS San Diego, a landing platform dock that was operating with the Tripoli group in late March, remained in port in Sasebo, Japan, according to USNI News.
The movement of the two amphibious ready groups came as President Donald Trump had posted on his Truth Social site that “we are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great military efforts in the Middle East.”
Two U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Ospreys take off from the flight deck of Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer in the Pacific Ocean, March 28, 2026. (Joseph Helms/U.S. Marine Corps)
If the Boxer group is deployed to the Middle East, it would increase U.S. forces in the region beyond the current 50,000 service members.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declined to detail plans for possible use of the Marines in the conflict with Iran. “Don’t tell your enemy what you’re willing to do or not do, and don’t tell your enemy when you’re willing to stop,” Hegseth said.
The U.S. Army has dispatched thousands of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the region. The soldiers are from the division’s Immediate Response Force, a “quick-reaction brigade” that is always ready to deploy anywhere in the world within 18 hours.
In a separate move, ship spotters in San Diego reported the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt had left port. Since January, the Navy has sent the carrier out on training exercises off the coast of California following extensive maintenance in 2025.
