Current:Home > ContactThe USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is returning home after extended deployment defending Israel -Wealth Axis Pro
The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is returning home after extended deployment defending Israel
View
Date:2025-04-22 04:39:09
WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of extra duty at sea providing protection for Israel, the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group will be heading home, the Navy announced on Monday.
The Ford and its accompanying warships will be replaced by the amphibious assault ship the USS Bataan and its accompanying warships, the USS Mesa Verde and the USS Carter Hall. The three vessels had been in the Red Sea and have been transiting toward the Eastern Mediterranean over the last few days.
The Ford was sent to the Eastern Mediterranean to be within striking distance of Israel since the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. The carrier stayed in the Eastern Mediterranean while its accompanying warships had sailed into the Red Sea, where they repeatedly intercepted incoming ballistic missiles and attack drones fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited the Ford last month.
Since it was extended in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Ford and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier have been part of a two-carrier presence bracketing the Israel-Hamas war, underscoring U.S. concerns that the conflict will widen. The Eisenhower has recently patrolled near the Gulf of Aden, at the mouth of the Red Sea waterway, where so many commercial vessels have come under attack in recent weeks.
On Sunday, helicopters from the Eisenhower and its destroyer the USS Gravely responded to a distress call from the container ship Maersk Hangzhou, which was under attack by four Iranian-backed Houthi small boats. As the helicopters responded, the boats fired at them with crew-served weapons and small arms and the helicopters returned fire, sinking three of the four boats and killing their crews, the U.S. Central Command said.
The incessant attacks on the commercial ships have led some companies to suspend transits through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Gulf of Aden to the southern Red Sea and then the Suez Canal.
veryGood! (7)
Related
- Scoot flight from Singapore to Wuhan turns back after 'technical issue' detected
- More than 16 million people bought insurance on Healthcare.gov, a record high
- After Back-to-Back Hurricanes, North Carolina Reconsiders Climate Change
- Today's Hoda Kotb Says Daughter Hope Has a Longer Road Ahead After Health Scare
- Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
- The Nipah virus has a kill rate of 70%. Bats carry it. But how does it jump to humans?
- Two active-duty Marines plead guilty to Jan. 6 Capitol riot charges
- Garth Brooks responds to Bud Light backlash: I love diversity
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- Green Groups Working Hard to Elect Democrats, One Voter at a Time
Ranking
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- Permafrost Is Warming Around the Globe, Study Shows. That’s a Problem for Climate Change.
- Don't 'get' art? You might be looking at it wrong
- World’s Oceans Are Warming Faster, Studies Show, Fueling Storms and Sea Rise
- 'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
- The Nipah virus has a kill rate of 70%. Bats carry it. But how does it jump to humans?
- 25 people in Florida are charged with a scheme to get fake nursing diplomas
- Videos like the Tyre Nichols footage can be traumatic. An expert shares ways to cope
Recommendation
'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
Conspiracy theorists hounded Grant Wahl's family when he died. Now they're back
7 tiny hacks that can improve your to-do list
World’s Oceans Are Warming Faster, Studies Show, Fueling Storms and Sea Rise
Warm inflation data keep S&P 500, Dow, Nasdaq under wraps before Fed meeting next week
How our perception of time shapes our approach to climate change
Unable to Bury Climate Report, Trump & Deniers Launch Assault on the Science
RSV recedes and flu peaks as a new COVID variant shoots 'up like a rocket'