World’s Largest Aircraft Carrier to Remain Parked off Coast of Israel
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest and the US’s newest aircraft carrier, and USS Normandy, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, to remain in the Mediterranean Sea for several more weeks to maintain a two-carrier presence near Israel. This is the third time that the aircraft carrier’s deployment has been extended since it arrived in the region “as part of the U.S. effort to keep the conflict from spreading”.
“Sometimes our greatest achievements are the bad things we stop from happening,” Austin told the crew when he visited the carrier. “In a moment of huge tension in the region, you all have been the linchpin of preventing a wider regional conflict.”
Officials said the plan was to keep the Ford there for several more weeks.
There are also several US warships, including the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, as part of a multinational task force in the Red Sea and Gulf of Oman. US warships in the Red Sea have intercepted incoming missiles fired toward Israel from areas of Yemen controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. They’ve also shot down one-way attack drones headed toward the ships and responded to calls for assistance from commercial vessels that have come under persistent Houthi attacks near the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
This marks the first time in two decades that two U.S. aircraft carriers sailed together in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, the 6th fleet announced Friday. The naval presence is also intended to protect US military assets deployed in the region. There have been 23 attacks by Iranian-backed militants in Iraq and Syria on U.S. forces, Pentagon officials said Monday.
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