Aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) is now operating in U.S. 7th Fleet, USNI News has learned.
The carrier chopped into the 7th Fleet area of operations over the weekend, a defense official confirmed to USNI News.
TR left Naval Station North Island in San Diego, Calif., on Jan. 11 for its deployment. It’s unclear where the carrier will go next. USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), which deployed in October, is currently operating in the Indo-Pacific, where the U.S. has kept a consistent carrier presence for the last few years.
But the U.S. Navy has also massed a naval presence in the Middle East over the last few months both to protect commercial shipping in the Red Sea and to deter actors like Hezbollah and Iran from participating in the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza. USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) is currently operating in the Red Sea, where the U.S. naval forces have been firing on drones and missiles launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
TR is embarked with Carrier Strike Group 9 and Carrier Air Wing 11. The CSG includes Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG-70) and Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Halsey (DDG-97), USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) and USS Daniel Inouye (DDG-118).
The carrier deployed amid an ongoing grounding of the U.S. military’s V-22 Osprey fleet following a November crash of an Air Force CV-22B Osprey off the coast of Japan. For now, a detachment of East Coast-based C-2A Greyhounds is performing the carrier onboard delivery mission for TR instead of the CMV-22Bs.
