U.S Navy’s Aircraft Carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Reaches The Mediterranean

The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group is now headed towards the Eastern Mediterranean Sea after it transited the Strait of Gibraltar on Saturday.

In the meantime, two vessels of the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group have reached the Red Sea.

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower — Credit: navy.mil

The Navy also confirmed that the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) and its associated escorts made the transit early on Saturday via social media.

The Ike Carrier Strike Group includes Arleigh Burke–class destroyers Gravely (DDG-107) and Mason (DDG-87) and the guided-missile cruiser Philippine Sea (CG-58) belonging to the Ticonderoga class, deployed on 14 October with Carrier Air Wing 3 has embarked, per the USNI News Fleet and the Marine Tracker.

Reportedly, the strike group was initially set to operate with Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and escorts off the Israel coast.

The Ford was in the Mediterranean from June as part of the continued presence operation of the U.S. in the zone that started in December 2021 but was also shifted closer to Israel after the Hamas attacks of October 7.

In the meantime, Bataan (LHD-5) and Carter Hall (LSD-50) reached the Red Sea on Friday from the Gulf of Aden, per ship spotters.

These two vessels are headed to join an amphibious war vessel dubbed Mesa Verde (LPD-19). The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit is embarked across the three war vessels.

The 26th MEU is based in North Carolina.

It includes the command element; the aviation combat element dubbed the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron, the 162 (Reinforced); a ground combat element, the Battalion Landing Team 1/6; as well as the logistics combat element, Combat Logistics Battalion 22.

The onboard Marines are trained for the evacuation of civilians in the conflict zones. The USNI News paid a visit to the unit in April 2023 during a non-combatant evacuation drill in North Carolina.

The current plan, as highlighted by Lloyd Austin, the Defense Secretary, will be shifting the Eisenhower using the Suez Canal into the U.S. Fifth Fleet.

It will be the first time that a U.S. carrier strike group has operated in the Middle East since the Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) departed from the region following the withdrawal of the U.S. from Afghanistan back in 2021.

The massing of vessels in the Eastern Mediterranean will be the greatest collection of U.S. war vessels in about decades, the USNI News reported earlier.

The naval buildup is primarily intended to deter conflict in Southern Israel from expanding to other areas.

The U.S. forces based in Syria and Iraq have now come under attacks from the forces that are sympathetic toward the Hamas.

About 19 U.S. troops are based at Syria’s Al Tanf garrison in Syria, and four are placed at the Al Asad air base in Iraq.

These were diagnosed with brain injuries after last week’s rocket and drone attacks on installations from similar forces, per Politico’s report on Thursday.

Besides the U.S. forces, the French and the U.K. have sent out their war vessels.

The French amphibious war vessel Tonnerre (L9014) will join two guided-missile frigates in the area while the Royal has dispatched the Bay-class landing vessel dock RFA Lyme Bay (L3007) and the auxiliary vessel dubbed the RFA Argus (A135).

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