US sends Navy strike group with aircraft carrier to Mediterranean Sea
Headed by the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, a U.S. Navy strike group will depart from Norfolk, Virginia on April 11 and head to the Mediterranean for deployment in the Middle East and off the coast of Europe. This is the first combat mission of the aircraft carrier after undergoing ten months of repairs, reports the military newspaper Stars and Stripes.
In addition to the aircraft carrier, the strike group includes the USS Normandy guided-missile cruiser, and the destroyers USS Arleigh Burke, USS Bulkeley, USS Forrest Sherman and USS Farragut. The destroyers USS Jason Dunham and USS The Sullivans will join the strike group later. The total number of crew members of the ships is 6,500.
The ships will replace the strike group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, which was in the Middle East for four months.
Earlier, the media reported about Russian warplanes “harassing” the U.S. destroyer USS Donald Cook, which is in the territorial waters of Syria.
U.S. President Donald Trump canceled a trip to a summit meeting in Peru to prepare a response to the alleged chemical attack in Syria. According to activists, the chemical attack occurred in the Syrian city of Douma on April 7. At least 60 people were killed in the attack.