Aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) is set to depart the Red Sea while a carrier currently on station in the Pacific is planned to head to the Middle East to continue a U.S. presence mission in the region, USNI News has learned.
While Ike and its cruiser escort will transit to the Mediterranean Sea, the destroyer escorts will stay in U.S. 5th Fleet, a U.S. official told USNI News on Friday. Additionally, flight spotters tracked Eisenhower’s C-2A Greyhound detachment flying from the U.S. 5th Fleet base in Bahrain to the Mediterranean.
The decision comes as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin elected not to extend the Navy’s second-oldest carrier for a third time, the official confirmed. As of Friday, the carrier had been deployed for more than eight months. USNI News reported earlier this month Ike has deployed for more days than any other U.S.-based carrier for the last five years.
“Time to bring them home,” the official said.
It’s unclear which carrier from the Pacific would move to the Middle East to take over the operations from Ike. The U.S. official would not confirm the Pacific carrier to USNI News when asked. The closest, according to USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker, is USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) which deployed from San Diego, Calif., in January.
The next carrier on the East Coast preparing to leave is USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), which is still early in its workups ahead of a deployment later this summer, USNI News understands.
The last time a Pacific carrier deployed to the Middle East was in 2021 when the U.S. evacuated troops from Afghanistan. Then Japan-based USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) moved to the North Arabian Sea to provide air cover for the departure of U.S. forces, USNI News reported at the time.
Roosevelt is the second busiest aircraft carrier in the past five years, USNI News previously reported.
Ike deployed on Oct. 13 and headed to the Red Sea, where it has been part of the U.S. response to the Houthi attacks on commercial ships and posture in light of the war between Israel and Hamas. Ike’s departure comes as tensions between Lebanon-based group Hezbollah and Israel have escalated over the past couple of days. The official told USNI News Ike’s move was not related to the recent escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.