The U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III have directed the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (CSG) to begin moving to the Eastern Mediterranean. As part of U.S. effort to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas’s attack on Israel, the Strike Group includes the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58), guided-missile destroyers USS Gravely (DDG 107) and USS Mason (DDG 87), and Carrier Air Wing 3, with nine aircraft squadrons, and embarked headquarters staffs.
The Eisenhower CSG will join the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, which arrived earlier this week. The Ford CSG includes the USS Normandy, USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage, USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt. Earlier in the week, the U.S. Air Force announced deployment to the region of squadrons of F-15, F-16 and A-10 fighter aircraft. The increases to U.S. force posture signal the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and our resolve to deter any state or non-state actor seeking to escalate this war.
Carrier Strike Group 2 (CSG-2) is a U.S. Navy carrier strike group, tracing its history originally to 1931. The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is the strike group’s current flagship. The units assigned to Carrier Strike Group 2 included the nine squadrons of Carrier Air Wing Three; the Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG-58); USS Monterey (CG-61), USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) and the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Mitscher (DDG-57), USS Laboon (DDG 58), USS Mahan (DDG-72), and USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) from Destroyer Squadron 22.
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier currently in service with the United States Navy. Commissioned in 1977, the ship is the second of the ten Nimitz-class aircraft carriers currently in service, and is the first ship named after the 34th President of the United States and General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dwight D. Eisenhower is scheduled to be replaced around 2029 by the new USS Enterprise (CVN-80), a Gerald R. Ford-class carrier, that as of fall 2018, is in the steel cutting and fabrication stages of construction.
