Two Aircraft Carriers Remain Deployed In The Middle East

Even as CVN-78 is likely to return to the United States, two other nuclear-powered aircraft carriers remain in U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility. San Diego-based CVN-72 departed Naval Air Station North Island in November and was deployed to the Middle East in January, after previously operating in the South China Sea.

The Naval Station Norfolk-based USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), the U.S. Navy’s 10th and final Nimitz-class carrier, began her current deployment on March 31, but she only arrived in the region on April 23.

The delay was due to CVN-77 taking the “long way” around Africa to reach the Middle East, likely to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The Iranian-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen had carried out drone attacks, missile strikes, and even helicopter-borne boardings of commercial shipping in the past decade, notably in support of Hamas until May 2025, when the U.S. was able to reach a peace agreement with the rebel group in Yemen. No U.S. Navy aircraft carrier has transited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait since the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) in December 2023.

With the arrival of USS George H.W. Bush to the Middle East, it briefly marked the first time that three or more carriers were deployed to the region simultaneously since the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom 23 years ago in 2003.

Two More Flattops Could Support Combat Operations

In addition to the two supercarriers, there could soon be two other “flattops” operating in the Middle East, albeit neither is an actual carrier.

Already, the U.S. Navy deployed the America-class landing helicopter assault amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli (LHA-7) to the Arabian Sea in March. The forward-deployed warship, which is homeported at Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, is now on her first Middle Eastern mission. She is carrying elements of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid-response force of 2,200 personnel based on Okinawa, Japan. In addition, LHA-7 is operating with at least 20 Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning IIs, the short-takeoff/vertical-landing variant of the fifth-generation Joint Strike Fighter.

As of Saturday, the U.S. Central Command confirmed that USS Tripoli was operating in the Arabian Sea and was visited by Admiral Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander.

“He interacted with service members, recognized top performers, and toured various spaces throughout the amphibious assault ship, including the Combat Information Center,” CENTCOM announced via a post on X.

The Wasp-class landing helicopter dock amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD-4), joined by the Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship USS Comstock (LSD-45), transited the Strait of Malacca and is now operating in the Indian Ocean.

LHD-4 departed her homeport of San Diego with the embarked 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit in mid-March. She previously made port visits to Hawaii and Guam, and could arrive in the Arabian Sea by early next week.