Operation Imminent Thunder

During Operation Desert Shield Marine aircraft were positioned on amphibious ships in the Persian Gulf as part of the Amphibious Task Force (ATF) under NAVCENT. During the early days of DESERT SHIELD, a powerful 18,000-man amphibious task force steamed into the North Arabian Sea to add an important element to the allied arsenal. Within less than a month after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, more than 20 amphibious ships from Norfolk, Little Creek, and San Diego had completed the 10,000-mile trip to the Gulf of Oman, where nearly 8,000 Marines and 10,000 Sailors commenced full-scale preparations to "hit the beach" to eject Iraq's army from Kuwait. The task force, with Marines from the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (MEB) and 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) embarked, included air, land and sea assets tailor-made for coastal assault. The 13th MEU (SOC) was under the operational control of 4th MEB.

Plans called for the 4th MEB to conduct an amphibious assault into Kuwait and link up with allied forces once the offensive to liberate Kuwait began. Amphibious training was conducted by the rest of the MEB in anticipation of its mission.

In mid-November 1990, the ATF conducted a highly publicized amphibious exercise along the eastern Saudi Arabian coast, in conjunction with Exercise Imminent Thunder, a final rehearsal of CINCCENT's defensive plans. This exercise was the first in a continuous series of operations carefully designed to deceive the Iraqi command as to the direction of the Coalition's ground attack.

Operation Imminent Thunder and was conducted from 15-21 November 1990. The landing site was Ras Al Ghar in Saudi Arabia. During the Imminent Thunder an amphibious landing using hovercraft had to be cancelled because of high winds and 10-foot waves. A few weeks later, the ATF returned to Ras Al-Madrakah to conduct Exercise Sea Soldier III. By this time, the ATF had received preliminary guidance that its assault objective during the ground offensive would be along the Kuwaiti coast, precipitating staff rehearsals and planning to counter the extensive Iraqi coast defenses. During Imminent Thunder, USS Bunker Hill's Aegis combat system, operated by shipboard air controllers, controlled more than 40 aircraft operating simultaneously in the amphibious objective area.

Upon conclusion of the exercise, the units of 4th MEB embarked aboard ship in anticipation of conducting an amphibious assault against the Iraqis.

On 29 January 1991, in the northern Persian Gulf, the five ships of Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) ALFA-- USS Okinawa (LPH 3), USS Ogden (LPD 5), USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43), USS Cayuga (LST 1186) and USS Durham (LKA 114) --with embarked Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (special operations capable) --steamed near the Kuwaiti island Umm al Maradim. The Marines assaulted the 300-meter by 400-meter island 12 miles off the Kuwaiti coast using embarked Marine helicopters, liberating the second Kuwaiti island. After destroying Iraqi anti-aircraft weapons and artillery stored on the island, which had been used as an early warning post by the enemy, the Marines raised the Kuwaiti flag over the second parcel of reclaimed territory.

The 4th and 5th MEB was offshore of Kuwait and Southern Iraq and tied numerous Iraqi Divisions down in anticipation of the amphibious assault. The assault never materialized as the forces served their purpose in denying the use of these divisions to defend against the land attack of the allied forces. The 4th MEB departed the Persian Gulf Region on 13 March 1991.