Pentagon orders second Navy carrier group to the Middle East
The U.S. military is sending the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group to the Middle East, as fighting with Houthi forces around Yemen reignites after a two-month pause.
According to reporting from the Associated Press, the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group will end its current deployment in east Asia in the 7th Fleet's area of responsibility and head to the waters around Yemen. That will bolster American force projection in the region, as the ships will be joining the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group in the fight against Houthi forces around Yemen. That carrier group's deployment to the Middle East has extended another month, according to the Associated Press.
The dual carrier deployment comes a week into renewed fighting between U.S. forces and the Houthis, a religious and Yemeni nationalist group that controls much of Yemen, including the capital city. Since October 2023, the group has launched rockets and drones at commercial ships passing through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in response to Israel's war in Gaza. The U.S. Navy and Air Force have repeatedly intercepted those munitions and carried out bombing campaigns on Houthi-controlled areas. After a ceasefire was signed in January, the Houthis halted their attacks and the U.S. in turn stopped strikes on Yemen. That ended last weekend when the Truman Carrier Strike Group launched attacks on Yemen in response to the Houthis saying they would renew actions in the Red Sea.
The Carl Vinson and its ships are expected to take two-three weeks to arrive in the Middle East.
The last time two carrier strike groups were in the CENTCOM area of responsibility was in September. In August, previous Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln and its support ships to 'accelerate' to the Middle East to join the USS Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group as a deterrent to Iranian strikes against Israel after the latter carried out strikes in Lebanon and and Iran. The expanded naval presence was part of a wider increase in American military projection to the region. The Roosevelt and its strike group left in September.
Along with its namesake carrier, the Vinson Carrier Strike Group includes a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser and two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, in addition to the aircraft that make up Carrier Air Wing 2.
The Vinson and its strike group has been in the waters around the Korean Peninsula in recent weeks, visiting Busan and conducting drills and exercises with the Republic of Korea Navy, and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force following recent missile tests by North Korea.
The Truman Carrier Strike Group entered the 5th Fleet's domain in December to support the fight against the Houthis and saw extensive action in the last weeks of 2024. It briefly left the Middle East for a port visit to Greece for repairs from a collision with a merchant ship, but has been back in the Red Sea. Its deployment was originally set to end at the end of this month. Fighters from Carrier Air Wing 1 took part in the newest strikes on Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen this month.
In the previous months-long engagement against the Houthis, the U.S. Navy expended more than 400 munitions and sent multiple carrier groups and independent ships to the area around Yemen. President Donald Trump has pledged to 'completely annihilate' the Houthis in this latest fight, but a Pentagon spokesman has said that the now week-long conflict is 'not an endless offensive.'
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