The Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier and the 10th strike group of the US Navy are returning to the US from the Middle East.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA (May 8, 2007) – Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) transits the Mediterranean Sea. Eisenhower and embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7 are on a regularly scheduled deployment in support of Maritime Security Operations (MSO). U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Angel Contreras (RELEASED)
The 10th strike group of the US Navy and the Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier are returning from the Middle East to the US, a statement of US Navy reads. The group also includes the San Jacinto guided missile cruiser, as well as destroyers Mason and Nitze. In the near future, they will arrive at the base in Norfolk (Virginia).
“More than 6,000 Sailors from Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 10 are scheduled to arrive at their homeports Dec. 30 after completing a highly successful seven-month deployment,” the statement reads.
Being deployed in the Middle East, the vessels supported Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Syria, as well as operations in Libya and South Sudan.
“While deployed, the strike group performed admirably in the 5th [the Middle East] and 6th [Europe] US Fleet areas of operations while providing maritime security, conducting combat missions and launching F/A-18 strikes against ISIL [the Islamic State terrorist group] in Syria and Iraq,” the US Navy noted.
As the DefenseNews news portal reported, “US carrier groups regularly relieve each other in theater, often handing off duties within sight of the other in the Persian Gulf or Arabian Sea. But this time, no carrier is in the Eisenhower’s wake.” This means that there will be no US aircraft carrier or US Navy strike group in the Middle East now.
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Reportedly, the Eisenhower had to be replaced by the George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier, but the vessel has not yet left Norfolk, and, according to a Navy source of DefenseNews, most likely, it will not do so before the inauguration of the Trump administration on January 20. As the sources said, the gap between the time, when the Eisenhower left the area and the Bush arrives, could last as long as two months, as a planned six-month repair period of the Bush, which entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia in mid-June 2015, dragged on well past the March completion date.
During one of the briefings of the Ministry of Defence, the map showed that the plane disappeared from radar screens immediately after making a turn of 180 degrees. However, flightradar24 real time tracker did not reflect such a manoeuvre. Was the transponder turned off?
Noteworthy, disabled transponders and communication systems can be explained as follows. French reconnaissance ship Dupuy de Lome had entered the Black Sea on the eve of the tragedy. The ship can send a strong impulse to deactivate all electronic equipment on board the aircraft. Israel resorts to this practice against Russian airplanes in Syria. It was reported that the bodies of the victims of the Tu-154 crash were wearing life jackets. Therefore, the crew had time to warn the passengers, but not the flight control officers. In this is the case, then this is a war against NATO, rather than an act of terrorism.
http://www.pravdareport.com/hotspots/disasters/27-12-2016/136527-tu_154_crash-0/
Why this obsession with the US carrier groups? They have airbases in the area.