page_title: Operation Eastern Exit
section_title: Plans, mobilization, and escalating violence
hierarchical_section_title: Operation Eastern Exit / Plans, mobilization, and escalating violence
caption_attribution_description: English: Port Everglades, Fla. (Apr. 26, 2004) - The crew assigned to the amphibious transport dock ship USS Trenton (LPD 14) "man the rails" as a commercial tugboat pushes them closer to the pier as they prepare to moor in Port Everglades, Fla., for Fleet Week 2004. U.S. Navy photo by Journalist 2nd Class William Lovelady. (RELEASED)
context_page_description: Operation Eastern Exit was the codename given to the military evacuation of the United States embassy in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, in January 1991. In late December 1990, violence quickly enveloped the city as armed militants began clashing with government soldiers. On 1 January 1991, the US Ambassador to Somalia, James Keough Bishop, contacted the Department of State requesting an evacuation of the embassy, which was approved the following day. United States Central Command began planning and mobilizing forces that evening. The initial plan was to evacuate with a military transport plane through the Mogadishu International Airport, but this was later abandoned. A helicopter evacuation via the USS Guam and USS Trenton was the remaining option.
  On the morning of 5 January, a 60-person Marine and Navy SEAL security detail was dispatched from Guam aboard two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters to secure the embassy and prepare for the main evacuation. The two helicopters returned to Guam with the first 61 evacuees. Throughout the day, foreign diplomats and civilians sought refuge at the embassy.
context_section_description: Ambassador Bishop had visited Central Command in August 1990, where he worked with military experts to update the embassy's E&E plan. The first notice that an evacuation of the Mogadishu embassy would be needed came on the morning of 1 January, when the top naval commander at Central Command sent a message to his naval operations staff: "Better have Amphib crowd take a look at a helo NEO of Mogadishu! time/distance to get there from Masirah OP area." Following the ambassador's 2 January evacuation request, the commander of Central Command ordered Air Force aircraft to the region, the movement of amphibious ships to Mogadishu, and requested United States Special Operations Command to prepare for a noncombatant evacuation operation.
  The initial plan was to evacuate via Mogadishu International Airport. Soon after the evacuation request, the United States Air Force deployed C-130 transport planes and an AC-130, for gunfire support, to Nairobi, Kenya, awaiting clearances to enter Somalia and the ability to safely transfer evacuees from the embassy to the airport. However, the US and other foreign embassies were unable to contact anyone within the government to obtain clearances. It also became apparent that the rebels had an ineffective command-and-control structure, making it impossible to negotiate any ceasefire or guarantee of safe passage. Likewise, government troops faced a command-and-control problem; reports indicated that army units were separating along clan lines, in some cases soldiers shot officers of a different clan when given orders they disagreed with. Thus, it became clear that safe passage to the airport would not be possible. Several other nations also had aircraft mobilized to reach Mogadishu, but faced the same problems of landing and transit of evacuees to the airport.
  On 4 January, several incidents, including a couple exchanges of gunfire, suggested that the embassy's security detail was insufficient to hold off armed Somalis until the USS Guam and USS Trenton arrived with their helicopters and soldiers, at that time scheduled to arrive on 7 January. The embassy had just six Marine guards, whose job was limited to protecting the chancery. Ambassador Bishop made an urgent request to Washington for two platoons of soldiers to parachute into the embassy to defend it until the ships arrived. The request was denied, but the Ambassador was told that an advance element from the vessels would reach the embassy the following morning.
  USS Guam and USS Trenton began transit from the coast of Oman towards Mogadishu at 22:30 (23:30 Oman time) on 2 January. The commander of Amphibious Group 2 (PHIBGRU TWO) had initially proposed a seven-ship Amphibious Task Group, composed of vessels anchored at Masirah Island (off Oman) and Dubai and including four amphibious ships so that the full range of amphibious capabilities would be available for the operation. However, intervention in Kuwait seemed imminent and Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, did not want to divert that many ships from the Persian Gulf (and was mindful of the ongoing extended deployment of Operation Sharp Edge off Liberia), thus the decision to send just two ships. Although the two vessels were selected by mid-afternoon on 2 January, the transfer of some personnel from Dubai to Masirah and a decision to refuel the two ships (again, due to the potential risk of an extended operation like Sharp Edge) delayed departure by about ten hours. Guam and Trenton carried forces from the 4th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, including a detachment of CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters—the largest helicopters operated by the US military—and two squadrons of CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters.
  Planning began in earnest as the ships got underway, with a combined command center on Guam. On the morning of 3 January, the task force's command questioned why they were not given the option of an amphibious landing and requested a tank landing ship be added to the task force. The Seventh Fleet command staff, which were Pacific based, did not understand this request and denied
caption: USS Trenton
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