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Anonymous ID: bf053e Dec. 31, 2020, 1:02 p.m. No.12255582   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5740 >>5865

Nimitz Carrier Strike Group to Return Home from Middle East Deployment

 

USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and its carrier strike group will begin transiting from Africa to their West Coast homeports after the acting defense secretary announced today their deployment would be coming to a close.

 

The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group departed San Diego, Calif., in May for a deployment to the Middle East that began in June. The strike group left the Middle East in November for a quick exercise with the Indian Navy and then returned back to U.S. 5th Fleet.

 

Two weeks ago, the strike group repositioned to the Horn of Africa, sitting off the coast of Somalia to provide assistance as about 700 U.S. military members were relocated from Somalia to other nearby countries in a reshuffling of personnel directed by the Trump administration.

 

“The Secretary appreciates the hard work, commitment, and flexibility of more than 5,000 Sailors and Marines of the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group who repeatedly demonstrated operational excellence in providing air support to combat operations against terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and ensuring maritime security in critical waterways,” Jonathan Rath Hoffman, Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, said in a statement today.

“The Nimitz team provided persistent air cover during the troop drawdowns in Afghanistan and conducted operations and exercises that strengthened enduring partnerships and alliances in the U.S. Central Command and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command areas of responsibility.”

 

The Nimitz CSG was the first strike group to deploy under the Navy’s new COVID-19 procedures to ensure the team didn’t deploy with the virus onboard.

 

https://news.usni.org/2020/12/31/nimitz-carrier-strike-group-to-return-home-from-middle-east-deployment