The Bataan Amphibious Ready Group will deploy Wednesday as part of U.S. maritime forces supporting U.S. and international contingency planning associated with the crisis in Libya.

The Bataan ARG will deploy ahead of its original schedule in order to relieve units from the Kearsarge ARG currently positioned in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Bataan ARG and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are prepared to conduct a variety of missions, including forward naval presence, maritime security operations, theater security cooperation, humanitarian assistance and disaster response, as directed by fleet and joint task force commanders.

The Bataan ARG is made up of amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5), amphibious transport dock ship USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) and dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island (LSD 41).

Bataan and Mesa Verde are homeported in Norfolk, and Whidbey Island is homeported at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek, Fort Story. Supporting the Bataan ARG are Amphibious Squadron 6, the 22nd MEU, Tactical Air Control Squadron 22, Fleet Surgical Team 8 and Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 28.

The USS Bataan has a close connection to Suffolk, as its commander and many of its crew members have been regulars at a monthly breakfast gathering of former World War II Japanese prisoners of war. The gatherings took place for many years at Bunny’s Restaurant in Suffolk.

The last of that group of WWII Pacific Theater POWs, Marion “Turk” Turner, died last month about a month after finally receiving a purple heart for the injuries he sustained as a prisoner of the Japanese for three and a half years.