MIDDLE EAST — The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), flagship of Carrier Strike Group 9, left Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego on September 27 bound for the Arabian Sea station Adm. Daryl Caudle, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, named on August 31.
Caudle told sailors at a Fort Meade, Maryland, town hall that Roosevelt would take station in the Arabian Sea so USS George Washington, the Japan-based Pacific carrier then covering the Iran conflict, could return to its Pacific role.
The destination on the public record for the USS Theodore Roosevelt remains the Arabian Sea assignment Caudle stated in August, not a newly issued combat task from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
