Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is beefing up the U.S. Navy's presence in the Middle East, ordering a second aircraft carrier to the region to bolster efforts against Iranian-backed Houthi terrorists targeting shipping in the Red Sea.
A U.S. official told U.S. Naval Institute News that Hegseth ordered the USS Carl Vinson, which was in the Pacific participating in drills with South Korea, to the region to join the USS Harry S. Truman, which has been there since September 2024. Hegseth also signed orders Thursday to keep the Truman in the Middle East for at least another month.
It will be the second time in six months that the U.S. has kept two carrier strike groups in the region. The push for two aircraft carriers came amid the Trump administration's recent airstrikes against Houthis operating in Yemen. It will take the Carl Vinson two to three weeks to reach the region, meaning the carriers will overlap for a period of time, USNI News reported.
The Houthis have been targeting commercial shipping and U.S. warships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since Iranian-backed Hamas' terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel's military response in the Gaza Strip. But the Houthis had not attacked any ships since a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel began Jan. 19.
The Houthis, though, began to target the Truman and its escort ships following the U.S. airstrikes in Yemen.
In a post Wednesday on Truth Social, President Donald Trump warned that Iran must stop arming the Houthis "IMMEDIATELY" and vowed that the Houthis "will be completely annihilated!"
The Truman left Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia at the end of September and was nearing the end of its planned deployment when Hegseth extended its mission, USNI News reported. After operating in the North Sea for NATO exercises at the beginning of its deployment, the Truman sailed to the eastern Mediterranean and has spent much of its time since then operating in the Red Sea. The carrier briefly stopped in Souda Bay, Crete, last month for emergency repairs following a collision with a merchant ship near Port Said, Egypt.
The Carl Vinson deployed in mid-November from Naval Station North Island in San Diego and has been operating in the Indo-Pacific for the past few months, according to USNI News. The carrier, which has F-35C Lightning II joint strike fighter jets on board, drilled last week with U.S. Air Force and South Korea Air Force F-35s.
The next West Coast-based carrier expected to deploy to the Indo-Pacific is the USS Nimitz, which has been doing pre-deployed work off the coast of California, according to USNI News.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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