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USS Boxer Reaches CENTCOM Area Bringing Four Big-Deck Warships to Middle East
The amphibious assault ship arrived after a circuitous route that began in March. Three other large U.S. warships are already on station in the region.
Jul 7, 6:34 PM·2m read6 sources
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The amphibious assault ship USS Boxer arrived in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility on or before July 7, 2026. The ship had deployed from its home port on March 18, crossed the Pacific, and entered the Indian Ocean in early May without entering the CENTCOM zone.
It later reversed course to Singapore and the South China Sea before transiting the Malacca Strait northbound with USS Portland in late June. USS Boxer has now rejoined USS Portland and USS Comstock inside the CENTCOM area. The three ships form the Boxer amphibious ready group.
Their re-aggregation brings the total number of U.S. big-deck warships in the Middle East to four: the aircraft carriers USS Abraham Lincoln and USS George H.W. Bush plus the amphibious assault ships USS Tripoli and USS Boxer.
The last B-52 Stratofortress bombers left RAF Fairford during the week ending July 7, according to plane spotters. USS Nimitz reached New York City on July 3 and anchored off Staten Island ahead of the International Naval Review 250 on July 4. That event included more than 70 U.S.
And allied vessels and tall ships. USS Nimitz had left Mayport, Florida, the previous week and conducted an ordnance offload while heading north. USS Dwight D. Eisenhower returned to Norfolk on July 2 after a two-week work-up.
Student naval aviators completed carrier qualifications aboard the ship from June 27 to 30. USS Carl Vinson finished flight-deck certifications and carrier qualifications with Carrier Air Wing 2 between June 25 and July 1 before returning to San Diego. The Navy announced the end of the ship’s nine-month Planned Incremental Availability.
Cmdr. Paul Novess, the ship’s maintenance officer, said the work required more than 359,000 man hours by 13 production teams. USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Essex completed the in-port phase of RIMPAC 2026 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
The sea phase of the exercise is scheduled to begin the week of July 7. USS George Washington took part in the live-fire sinking exercise of USS Juneau and has continued operations in the Philippine Sea alongside USS Robert Smalls, USS Shoup, USS Benfold, and USS Minnesota.
