Coronado-based aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt left on Sept. 27 for an extended deployment in the Middle East.
According to USNI News, the carrier is meant to take over for the USS George Washington, which was sent in mid-August to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, another Coronado-based carrier that set a record-long deployment out at sea when it didn’t touch land for more than 250 days during the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.
The Roosevelt, a Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier over 1,000 feet long, carries a crew of over 3,000 sailors alongside almost 2,500 airwing personnel. It is the maritime base for 90 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Perryman said in August that families of sailors on the Roosevelt were planning for a mission of at least seven months, USNI News reports.
“They know they’re going to be there longer than seven months,” Perryman said, according to the article. “Their (commanding officer) is giving them eight months to plan on.”
The Navy has not yet announced an expected return date for the Lincoln. It had its first port call on Sept. 2 in Thailand after 265 days out at sea and as of Sept. 28, has spent 311 days away from its homeport at Naval Air Station North Island after leaving at the end of November last year.
