The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) is taking the long way around Africa to reach the Middle East, likely to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jayden Brown)
The United States Navy’s 10th and final Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier, the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), was spotted off the coast of Namibia on Monday. The warship will sail around the southern tip of the African continent, where she will cross from the Atlantic into the Indian Ocean at the Cape of Good Hope.
The aircraft carrier is believed to be en route to the Middle East, where she will join the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), which has been operating in the region since February. The Pentagon didn’t announce why CVN-77, which departed Naval Station Norfolk in late March, is taking what is, in essence, the long way. The normal transit for the U.S. Navy’s East Coast carriers heading to the Middle East is to pass through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea, then through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea.
The answer in this case may be straightforward enough.
As USNI News reported, “The path around Africa allows the carrier and its escorts to avoid transiting the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb, which were both hubs of activity for the Houthis in their drone and missile attacks on U.S. and commercial shipping in 2024 and 2025.”
The USS George H.W. Bush may not be the only carrier headed to the region.
The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the newest and largest operational supercarrier, departed Split, Croatia, last week and, as of Monday, was operating in the Eastern Mediterranean. The U.S. Navy hasn’t indicated if CVN-78 will transit the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, where she was operating until the middle of last month.
Much of the world’s attention has been on the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, and where the U.S. has imposed a partial blockade. However, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is another significant global chokepoint.
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Its name, which means “Gate of Grief/Tears,” may seem especially fitting in the modern era, but it has also been known for eons as a potential navigation hazard due to its shallow waters, reefs, and unpredictable winds that can create high waves capable of swamping small watercraft.
The strait, just 20 miles (32 kilometers) wide at its narrowest point, is a vital waterway, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. It is divided into two channels, with the Western Dact-el-Mayun being approximately 16 miles wide, and the Eastern Alexander’s Strait or Bab Iskender, which is much shallower and only two miles wide. The former is used for large international shipping vessels and tankers. It is the channel almost always employed by any U.S. Navy warship, with the shallower channel mostly used today for local traffic.
Despite the dangers, more than 20,000 vessels had passed through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait annually, accounting for roughly 12% of global trade. It was also a major conduit for oil and liquefied natural gas from the Gulf region to Europe.
The greatest danger is now geopolitical, with the Iranian-backed Houthis having carried out drone attacks, missile strikes, and even helicopter-borne boardings of commercial shipping in the past decade, notably in support of Hamas until last May, when the U.S. was able to reach a peace agreement with the rebel group in Yemen.
Since the start of U.S. combat operations in the Middle East on February 28, 2026, the Houthis have once again rattled sabers, threatening to resume attacks on commercial ships.
The ongoing threats have led to a decline in shipping, with a significant amount of maritime traffic taking the route around the Cape of Good Hope, the same one now being used by the USS George H.W. Bush.
The U.S. Navy doesn’t seem to be taking any chances.
Although the Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales and her escorts passed through the waterway last year during Carrier Strike Group 25’s Operation Highmast, the last U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to transit the Bab el-Mandeb Strait was the second Nimitz-class supercarrier, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), which sailed through it in December 2023, soon after the Houthis began their attacks on commercial shipping in response to the war in Gaza.
“U.S. destroyers that transited the Bab el-Mandeb in recent years have come under sustained attacks from Houthi forces,” USNI News added.
That threat from the Houthis may explain why USS Gerald R. Ford supported Operation Epic Fury from the Red Sea, so as to avoid traveling through the narrow strait.
After suffering a fire in its laundry room in March, USS Gerald R. Ford returned to the Mediterranean, first to Crete, and later to Split, Croatia, for repairs. As of last week, CVN-78 was back at sea, yet, the U.S. Navy hasn’t indicated how long its newest supercarrier will remain deployed.
On Tuesday, she reached the record for longest post-Cold War deployment of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier at 294 days, the time CVN-72 spent at sea during her 2019-2020 deployment. Given the length of time that the USS Gerald R. Ford has been at sea, it is very likely that the supercarrier could return to the United States in the coming weeks.
However, the U.S. Navy lacks available carriers to send to the Middle East, and no aircraft carrier is currently operating in the Pacific, which explains why CVN-78’s deployment is setting new records.
Even if the U.S. Navy opts not to maintain three carriers in the region, the America-class amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA-7) is now operating in U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility, having deployed from its forward-deployed base in Sasebo, Japan, in March to support the Department of Defense’s ongoing Operation Epic Fury.
U.S. Marines with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit participate in physical training on the flight deck of Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4).
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Oliver Nisbet)
There has been speculation that a second amphibious assault ship, the Wasp-class USS Boxer (LHD-4), would also be dispatched to the Middle East. As of this week, the conventionally-powered vessel, with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, was operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations.
The U.S. Navy announced that members of the 11th MEU were taking part in “critical incident stress training” or “physical training on the flight deck.”
Although the U.S. Navy hasn’t confirmed that USS Boxer is headed to the Middle East, if that is its destination, it could arrive sometime next week.
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