Caitlyn Burchett – September 28, 2026 10:13 AM
Carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) quietly departed Sunday from San Diego to sail across the Pacific for what is expected to be an extended Middle East deployment, USNI News has learned.
The carrier, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 9, departed without the traditional pomp and circumstance – no sailors were spotted manning the rails, according to ship spotter photos. The carrier will embark with Carrier Air Wing 11. A defense official confirmed Theodore Roosevelt had begun its planned deployment.
The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is expected to move to U.S. Central Command to relieve the Japan-based USS George Washington (CVN-73), which entered U.S. 5th Fleet in mid-August. West Coast-based strike groups have been diverted from their traditional Indo-Pacific deployments to the Middle East in recent years amid tensions with Iran and the Yemen-based Houthis.
Since Feb. 28, when the U.S. conflict with Iran began, the Navy has maintained a two-carrier presence in the region, as well as deployed an amphibious ready group and a dozen independent warships.
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Perryman said in August that Theodore Roosevelt families were planning for their loved one to be away from home for more than seven months, USNI News reported.
“[Sailors] will go do really hard things for me without really batting an eye because they like that part of it. But we do have to be able, when possible, to stick to schedules and be very honest, like we are with Roosevelt,” Perryman told reporters. “They know they’re going to be there longer than seven months. Their [commanding officer] is giving them eight months to plan on.”
Aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) spent more than eight months in the Middle East without the relief of a port call, USNI News reported. Lincoln, destroyer escort USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG-121) and the embarked Carrier Air Wing 9 were sailing near Hawaii en route to California on Sunday, a defense official told USNI News.
Petersen is expected to return to Pearl Harbor today.
Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao visited the carrier, according to photos posted on social media.
“Today, our warfighters aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) demonstrated the overwhelming capacity and capability that they brought to bear on our adversaries for the last 10 months,” reads a Facebook post, shared late Sunday.
As of Monday, Lincoln has been deployed for 311 days.
Currently operating in the Middle East are two carrier strike groups – the GW and George H.W. Bush CSGs – and the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, according to the USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker.
Caitlyn Burchett
Caitlyn Burchett is the managing editor of USNI News. She previously covered the Navy and Marine Corps for Stars and Stripes and regional defense news for The Virginian-Pilot. Follow @CaitlynBurchett
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