Reports: USS Enterprise strike group to join Stennis, Nimitz

Above: Launched in 1960, the USS Enterprise was the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, powered by 8 nuclear reactors. Until 1972 it was the largest warship in the world, with a flight deck of 4.5 acres.

Enterprise Returns to Sea

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) (Big E), got underway May 22 following about one week in its homeport at Naval Station Norfolk.

During their in port period, Big E hosted a change of command ceremony for Commander, Fleet Forces Command, and held its own change of command ceremony for its new Commanding Officer, Capt. Ron Horton. For the next few weeks, Enterprise, along with embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 1 will be conducting carrier qualifications, maintaining combat readiness for its upcoming surge deployment.

From Military.com

A third US carrier, the nuclear-powered USS Enterprise Strike Group is speeding towards the Persian Gulf

According to DEBKAfile’s military sources, the US naval build-up off the shores of Iran marks rising military tensions in the region, accentuated by last week’s Hamas victory which has endowed Iran with a military foothold on Israel’s southwestern border.

The USS Enterprise CVN 65-Big E Strike Group, the US Navy’s largest air carrier, will join the USS Stennis and the USS Nimitz carriers, building up the largest sea, air, marine concentration the United States has ever deployed opposite Iran. This goes towards making good on the assurances of four carriers US Vice President Dick Cheney offered the Gulf and Middle East nations during his May tour of the region.

The “Big E” leads a strike group consisting of the guided-missile destroyers USS Arleigh Burke DDG 51, USS Stout DDG 55, Forrest Sherman DDG 98 and USS James E. Williams DDG 95, as well as the guided missile cruiser USS Gettysburg CG 64, the SS Philadelphia SSN 690 nuclear submarine and the USNS Supply T-AOE 6.

Read the rest at Debka

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