USS Theodore Roosevelt moored at Changi Naval Base in Singapore last night just before midnight Eastern Time, her final stop before continuing on to the Middle East. The Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (CSG) will join the George H.W. Bush and George Washington CSGs, which are both now prepared, locked, and loaded should the commander in chief follow through on threats to renew military action against Iran after Tuesday’s midterm elections. Roosevelt and the three escorting warships will transit the Strait of Malacca next before heading west toward the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR), a journey that will likely take one to two weeks.
Meanwhile, the U.S. quietly launched strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island on Monday, according to a report first published by The Wall Street Journal. The U.S. officials cited by The Journal said the strikes were reactive and for defensive purposes, but the paper notes they were the latest in a “series of limited strikes Washington has secretly carried out against the country in recent weeks.” However, it’s possible that CENTCOM began shaping operations to prepare the battlefield if the go order is given. The U.S. military did not announce the strikes publicly, a noteworthy deviation from past operations that were typically disclosed, but U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox on Tuesday it was “just a minor attack” on a recently built “anti-aircraft facility.”
Here’s TWZ’s weekly carrier tracker monitoring and visualizing America’s flattop fleet, including deployed CSGs and Amphibious Ready Groups (ARGs), using publicly available open-source information. Check out last week’s report here.
The Theodore Roosevelt CSG completed combined exercise Keen Sword 27, which involved four other allied navies, on October 29. After being topped off by fleet replenishment oiler USNS Tippecanoe the following day, Roosevelt and her three escorts – guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin and guided-missile destroyers USS Paul Hamilton and USS Decatur – entered the South China Sea via the Luzon Strait and steamed southwest toward Singapore. A U.S. official told Axios that the group will spend a few days in Singapore but “won’t reach CENTCOM’s area of responsibility before mid-November.”
According to MarineTraffic, Roosevelt switched on her Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponder about 100 nautical miles east of Malaysia at 11:25 Eastern Time on November 5, broadcasting a precise position publicly for the first time since departing Yokosuka on October 19. The flattop moored at Berth 3/4 at RSS Singapura–Changi Naval Base approximately 12 hours later, followed by the other three warships over the next few hours.
The next leg of Roosevelt’s transit to the CENTCOM AOR runs north through the narrow Strait of Malacca and west across the vast Indian Ocean. In August, USS George Washington completed the journey from the Strait to the Arabian Sea in just over one week. A few days in port and a roughly 10-day cruise support the reporting of a mid-to-late November arrival.
Elements of the Makin Island ARG, which is also reportedly bound for the Middle East, were still in Yokosuka, Japan, as of publication. The three-ship amphibious group, packed with more than 2,200 Marines, will likely replace the Boxer ARG, which is approaching eight months deployed and due for relief. The fleet of amphibious warships is stretched thin, with only 31 in the fleet, but Navy and Marine leaders believe at least 40 are required.
USS George Washington, with Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 embarked, and USS George H.W. Bush, with CVW 7 aboard, are both operating in the Middle East. The composition of both CSGs is fluid as CENTCOM frequently rotates destroyers and cruisers assigned to strike groups with those on independent deployments. Imagery posted on DVIDS, the military’s content-sharing platform, shows Bush launching and recovering F/A-18E/F Super Hornets and EA-18G Growlers on November 4, and Washington conducting a fueling-at-sea evolution alongside fleet replenishment oiler USNS Oscar V. Peterson on November 3.
Washington left Yokosuka, where she is forward-deployed, 167 days ago on what was expected to be a routine three-month patrol in the Western Pacific. However, the flattop was redirected to the Middle East to relieve the battle-worn USS Abraham Lincoln, leaving the roughly 5,000 Sailors aboard unprepared for an unexpected, and potentially extended, combat deployment. Bush, whose crew knew what their mission was upon departure, has been deployed for 220 days. Neither carrier has broadcast AIS since arriving in theater.
An author on the WSJ article referenced above, Shelby Holliday, embarked on Washington in mid-October and provided a firsthand account of life aboard the carrier in a series of must-watch videos on YouTube and Instagram. Sailors spoke candidly about the deployment, and some hinted at what could come next.
Holliday’s interview with the “Gun Boss,” Cmdr. Brian Garcia, showcased AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack Missile-Expanded Response) air-launched cruise missiles and GBU-31(V)4/B JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) bombs equipped with BLU-109 bunker-buster penetrators. “We’re getting more of these weapons right here, and a couple other items that they feel we’re going to need for whatever the mission set sets forward in the future,” Garcia said. When asked what the magazine room looks like before an escalation, he responded, “This is it right here. This is the preparation that we’re ready for; we don’t need to ramp up because we’re already prepared.”
- On the West Coast, USS Ronald Reagan returned to her homeport in Bremerton, Washington, on November 3 after departing San Diego the week before. Reagan was completing flight deck certification and carrier qualifications following a lengthy maintenance availability. USS Abraham Lincoln, which will conduct a homeport shift from San Diego to Bremerton by the end of the year ahead of a Drydock Planned Incremental Availability, remains moored at Naval Air Station North Island. Also pierside in San Diego, USS Carl Vinson has not been at sea since completing a 25 days of Tailored Ship’s Training Availability and Final Evaluation Period in September.
- On the East Coast, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower returned to Naval Station Norfolk yesterday after a one-day underway, according to AIS data. USS Nimitz has been operating at an undisclosed location in the Atlantic Ocean conducting Carrier Air Traffic Control Center certifications with CVW 1, as well as carrier qualifications, since October 27.
- Three carriers are currently offline in various states of maintenance: USS John C. Stennis, USS Gerald R. Ford, and USS Harry S. Truman. Stennis is at the tail end of a yearslong Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH), while Truman just began an RCOH. Ford began a post-deployment availability in July, and work is expected to be finished by March 2027.
- The future USS John F. Kennedy, the Navy’s second and newest Gerald R. Ford class supercarrier, returned to Norfolk on November 5 after 13 days at sea conducting Aircraft Compatibility Testing with Super Hornets and Growlers. In mid-October, an F-35C assigned to the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23 made the first arrested landing on and launch from a Ford class. Kennedy, still considered a Pre-Commissioning Unit, is expected to enter the fleet in spring 2027, around the same time Nimitz will begin the process of deactivation.
Overall, three U.S. carriers are deployed, three are working up in various states of readiness, three are in maintenance, one is post-deployment preparing for an upcoming availability, another is being used primarily for training before deactivation, and the next to be commissioned will be delivered to the fleet in 2027. Two amphibious assault ships are deployed, one is forward-deployed, two are getting ready for upcoming deployments and currently in port, and four are in maintenance.
Note: Positions are general approximations. Non-deployed LHA/LHD amphibious warships are not shown on the graphic.
Contact the author: ian@twz.com or @ianellisjones
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