Ever since then, amphibious warfare has been the defining feature and core competency of the Marines.

FORBES: Marines Fight For Crucial Vehicle As Budget Cuts Loom

Following its return, 40 Commando will take leave and then begin training for contingency operations, providing part of the UK's amphibious warfare capability.

BBC: Return home for Taunton-based 40 Commando

Well, if the Marines aren't supposed to do amphibious warfare and aren't supposed to do ground warfare, are they really needed any longer?

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Send away the Marines?

Long before the new posture was announced last year, the Marine Corps was working closely with the Navy to assemble a force that could successfully wage amphibious warfare against well-equipped enemies.

FORBES: Marines Fight For Crucial Vehicle As Budget Cuts Loom

The biggest public hint appeared in November, when the influential Proceedings monthly of the U.S. Naval Institute carried an essay on amphibious warfare by Navy Under Secretary Robert Work and widely respected military analyst Frank Hoffman.

FORBES: Gates Challenges Marine Corps' Mission

Each MEB requires 17 amphibious warfare ships.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Section IV: Building a Two-MRC Force for the 21st Century

But with the exception of South Korea, which chafes under our protection and may eventually break from the fold, our major allies in the Pacific are islands, and conveniently in this regard our strengths are the air, the sea, space, and amphibious warfare.

WSJ: Our Blindness

The proposed plan would retire seven cruisers early, delay construction of the next large-deck amphibious warfare ship by one year, cancel the second Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) in 2014, delay construction of two smaller amphibious warfare ships, and reduce procurement of littoral combat ships by two and joint high speed vessels by eight.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Section IV: Building a Two-MRC Force for the 21st Century