US Navy to deploy third carrier strike group near Middle East amid Israel-Iran hostilities

The US Navy will soon deploy the strike group centred on the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to the Mediterranean Sea, bringing the number of available US carrier strike groups in or near the Middle East to three.

The deployment of the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group will be undertaken in the wake of ongoing hostilities between Israel and Iran wherein the two countries launched a series of strikes against each other.

Ford and her strike group are expected to head to Europe by next week, CNN quoted US defence officials as saying. The ship will afterwards sail for the Mediterranean.

USS Carl Vinson and her strike group are currently on station in the Arabian Sea while USS Nimitz and her accompanying ships are steaming westward to the region following recent operations in the South China Sea.

The deployment will be Ford's first since January 2024, when she ended a six-month rotation in the US European Command area of operations.