The Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group has left the Middle East after completing a regularly scheduled six-month deployment in the region.

The ready group includes the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Antonio and the amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall. Some 2,400 Marines embarked from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., boarded the ships in Norfolk, Va. in March and arrived in the Middle East in April.

The ships are now heading home, but not before they got in some last-minute excitement.

The San Antonio was recently in the headlines for holding Abu Anas al-Libi, who was captured in Libya during a U.S. special operations raid on Oct. 5. Interrogators reportedly questioed al-Libi for about a week aboard the ship.

An amphibious ready group offers the U.S. Navy a sea-based expeditionary crisis response force capable of conducting amphibious operations for a wide range of missions including contingency responses, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.