Bataan

Under cover of darkness, a single fighter jet roars as it rips across the deck of the USS Bataan, a vast US assault ship.

The Bataan’s accompanying warship the Mesa Verde is a transport dock ship, carrying approximately 2,000 Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

Completed in 1984, the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant was mothballed two years later following the ouster of the older Marcos, the deadly Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and corruption allegations.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon said it was sending the USS Bataan amphibious ready group, which consists of three ships carrying thousands of Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, into the region.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that the Bataan, another warship, was heading near the coast of Israel and would include a Marine expeditionary unit.