USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) is scheduled to arrive at its new homeport of Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island, Calif., on Monday, the second of three arrivals in a three-carrier homeport swap.
Roosevelt departed Norfolk in March for an eight-and-a-half-month deployment to U.S. 5th, 6th and 7th Fleets. The Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group sailed through the Mediterranean Sea and then spent more than six months in the Middle East, launching strikes against the Islamic State as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. The CSG and Carrier Air Wing 1 executed 1,812 combat sorties encompassing 10,618 combat flight hours over Iraq and Syria, as well as employed 1,085 precision guided munitions to destroy enemy targets and fighting positions.
While in the Middle East and then sailing home through the Pacific, the Roosevelt CSG also conducted maritime security operations and theater security cooperation events with Britain, France, India and Japan. And the strike group’s guided missile destroyers – USS Farragut (DDG-99), USS Forrest Sherman (DDG-98) and USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) – participated in three exercises with Gulf Cooperation Council nations, including Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The three destroyers are East Coast based and have already returned to their homeports in Virginia and Florida. Guided missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60) will escort Roosevelt home and then continue through U.S. 3rd and 4th Fleets en route to Norfolk.
With Roosevelt arriving in its new homeport, the carrier swap will be almost complete. USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), formerly based in San Diego, arrived in Japan on Oct. 1. USS George Washington (CVN-73), formerly based in Japan, is participating in multinational exercises in South America and will eventually sail into Norfolk to await mid-life refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH). Roosevelt completed its RCOH in August 2013 and departed Norfolk in March, making room for George Washington.
