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Task Force 76 / Amphibious Force U.S. Seventh Fleet / Expeditionary Strike Group SEVEN
Active	1943 to present
Country	United States of America
Branch	United States Navy
Type	Expeditionary Strike Group
Role	Amphibious Operations
Part of	United States Seventh Fleet
Garrison/HQ	White Beach Naval Facility
Motto	Forward From the Sea
Commanders
Current commander	Rear Adm.Thomas Shultz

Expeditionary Strike Group SEVEN/Task Force 76 (Amphibious Force U.S. SEVENTH Fleet) is aUnited States Navytask force. It is part of theUnited States Seventh Fleet and the USN's only permanently forward-deployed expeditionary strike group. It is based at the White Beach Naval Facility at the end of theKatsuren Peninsula inUruma City,Okinawa, Japan.

CTF 76 conducts operations throughout theU.S. Seventh Fleet area of operations, which includes theWestern Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean.

10 January 1943 – Southwest Pacific Amphibious Forces – later called the Seventh Amphibious Force is formed in Brisbane, Australia. Participated inOperation Chronicle, thelanding at Lae, thelanding at Scarlet Beach atFinschhafen,Battle of Arawe andBattle of Cape Gloucester on the island ofNew Britain,

1944 – Participated in thelanding at Hollandia,landing at Aitape,landing at Saidor andAdmiralty Islands campaign.

1950 – Supported UN duringKorean War by stationing ships atInchon andWonsan.

1954 – CTF 76 participated inOperation Passage to Freedom, the largest operation of its kind in history. The operation evacuated 310,000 people from communist-controlled North Vietnam to South Vietnam and carried 58,000 tons of cargo and humanitarian aid.

1965 – Participated in amphibious landings, assaults and demonstrations off the eastern coast of the Republic of Vietnam. Also cleared mines off the Vietnamese coast toward the end of theVietnam War.Amphibious Ready Group Alpha, and its U.S. Marine contingent "Special Landing Force Alpha" or SLF-A (often referred to as the "Sluff", during the Vietnam era) formed Task Group 76.4. TG 76.4 consisted of various support vessels, such asLanding Platform, Helicopter (LPHs) such as theUSS Princeton (LPH-5),USS Okinawa (LPH-3) orUSS Iwo Jima (LPH-2). Other vessels included LSTs (Landing Ship Tank) or LSD (Landing Ship Dock) supported a reinforced Marine Corps battalion referred to as a Battalion Landing Team (BLT). The Marine elements of the Group were referred to as Special Landing Force Alpha which itself consisted of the BLT and a Marine Helicopter Squadron. The ARG also included an Amphibious Group Command Ship (AGC) or the Amphibious Communication and Command Ship (LCC) which carried the Commander Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet and command and communications support facilities. Three AGCs and one LCC rotated to the Western Pacific and all four were involved in the amphibious landings by the LCC/AGC/SLF in Vietnam. The one LCC wasUSS Blue Ridge (LCC-19) and the three AGCs wereUSS Eldorado (AGC-11),USS Estes (AGC-12) andUSS Mount McKinley (AGC-7).

1971 – Homeported to Okinawa, Japan

1975 – Rescued more than 100,000 people from Phnom Penh and Saigon (including inOperation Eagle Pull). Also assisted in recovery of the American-flaggedSSMayaguez after it was hijacked by the CambodianKhmer Rouge in theGulf of Thailand.

1983 – Transited toSuez Canal to support multi-national forces inLebanon.

1999 – Belleau Wood Amphibious Ready Group completed no-notice five-month deployment toPersian Gulf forOperation Desert Fox.

2000 –USS Belleau Wood andUSS Juneau complete humanitarian mission toEast Timor supporting Australian-led forces. Continued missions until East Timor became 191st member of United Nations in 2002.

2004 –USS Essex andUSS Fort McHenry deploy to Indonesia in support ofOperation Unified Assistance to provide support and aid to the victims of the 26 December tsunami in Southeast Asia.

2005 – Forward Deployed Amphibious Ready Group returns toSasebo, Japan following unscheduled eight-month surge deployment to North Persian Gulf in support ofOperation Iraqi Freedom and the globalwar on terrorism.

2005 – Forward Deployed ARG deploys for Fall Patrol. Conduct Amphibious Landing Exercise/Talon Vision (PHIBLEX/TV) 06 in theRepublic of Philippines and then make a port visit to Hong Kong.

2006 – Forward Deployed ARG deploys for 5-month Spring Patrol, participating in TRUEX/MUEX in Guam, Balikatan 06 in the Republic of Philippines,Foal Eagle 06 in theRepublic of Korea (ROK) and Cobra Gold in the Kingdom of Thailand.

2006 –USS Patriot and embarked Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 5 Detachment (Det) 51 complete Summer Patrol throughout Southeast Asia, participating in Cobra Gold and WP-MCMEX inMalaysia, while making port visits toBrunei, Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong.^[1]

2007 – Forward Deployed ARG participates in joint exercises with the Republic of Korea, Kingdom of Thailand, Australia, Japan, Kingdom of Cambodia, Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Republic of the Philippines. Task Force 76 units also participated in Operation Sea Angel II, a disaster response mission in the People's Republic of Bangladesh.

2009 – Between 7 August and 18 October, Task Force 76 assigned forces supported Foreign Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operations in Taiwan, Indonesia and the Republic of the Philippines.

2011 – Operation TOMODACHI:USS Essex (LHD-2),USS Tortuga (LSD-46),USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49) andUSS Germantown (LSD-42) were positioned off of north eastern Honshu to assist the disaster recovery efforts in conjunction with the Japan Self Defense Force.

2011 –USS Tortuga (LSD-46) assisted in flood relief efforts in Thailand along with elements of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.

2012 – Task Force 76 and assigned units directly participated in 12 bi-lateral exercises including Balikatan, Amphibious Landing Exercise, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Exercise in the Republic of the Philippines, Cobra Gold in Thailand, Foal Eagle, Clear Horizon and Korean Interoperability Training Program in the Republic of Korea, Valiant Shied, Terminal Fury and Keen Sword in Japan.

CTF 76 consists of the following units:^[2]

• USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)

• Amphibious Squadron ELEVEN
• USS Tripoli (LHA-7)
• USS New Orleans (LPD-18)
• USS Rushmore (LSD-47)
• Mine Countermeasure Squadron SEVEN
• USS Patriot (MCM-7)
• USS Pioneer (MCM-9)
• USS Warrior (MCM-10)
• USS Chief (MCM-14)
• Naval Beach Unit SEVEN
• Assault Craft Unit ONE, Detachment Western Pacific
• Assault Craft Unit FIVE, Detachment Western Pacific
• Beach Master Unit ONE, Detachment Western Pacific

• Fleet Surgical Team SEVEN
• Tactical Air Squadron TWELVE, Detachment Western Pacific

• Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 14, Detachment ONE

• Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron TWO FIVE

United States-basedAmphibious Ready Groups which pass through theU.S. Seventh Fleet area of operations fall under the operational control of CTF 76.

• Command History, Seventh Amphibious Force, 10 January 1943 – 23 December 1945
• MacArthur's Amphibious Navy ~ Seventh Amphibious Force Operations 1943–1945, Vice Admiral Danie E. Barbey, USN (Ret), 1969
• Action Report – Iwo Jima, February, 1945
• Navy amphibious force welcomes new commander – Date: 7/28/2003
• Task Force 76 Holds Change of Command in Okinawa – Date: 10/22/2004
• ESG 7/CTF 76 Changes Command – Date: 11/27/2006
• Amphibious Force 7th Fleet Changes Command – Date: 6/23/2008
• Amphibious Force, US 7th Fleet Holds Change of Command Ceremony – Date: 9/10/2013
• Amphibious Force US 7th Fleet Holds Change of Command – Date: 8/31/2015
• Amphibious Force 7th Fleet Changes Command - Date: 8/03/2016
• New commander of Navy 7th Fleet’s amphibious forces takes over - Date: 1/24/2018

Wikimedia Commons has media related toTask Force 76/Expeditionary Strike Group 7.

• Commander Task Force 76 News
• Task Force 76/Expeditionary Strike Group 7 - [Link no longer functioning]
• Papers of John M. Lee, commanded the Amphibious Force of the Seventh Fleet in the Pacific, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library

• United States Navy task forces
• Military units and formations established in 1943

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