IKE is back

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) has crossed yesterday the Strait of Gibraltar and is operating in the Mediterranean Sea, about two weeks after departing its homeport in Virginia on its latest deployment.

The IKE CSG deployed Feb. 19 for the second time in a year with a partially new set of cruiser and destroyer escorts. Aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) and guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) are deploying again after setting out for an earlier deployment in January 2020. USS Monterey (CG-61) and guided-missile destroyers USS Mitscher (DDG-57), USS Laboon (DDG-58), USS Mahan (DDG-72) and USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) are new to the carrier strike group this time around, swapping in to relieve other surface ship escorts that deployed last year.

We’ve tracked the USS Monterey.

The strait transit comes after the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group exercised with the Moroccan Navy and Air Force last week and interacted with Italian Navy frigate ITS Luigi Rizzo (F 595) on March 5.

IKE Carrier Strike Group arriving! We're on a scheduled deployment in the @USNavyEurope area of operations in support of U.S. national interests & security in Europe & Africa. And we're looking pretty good doing it! RT if you agree. pic.twitter.com/F2yRo8fDLs
— USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (IKE) (@TheCVN69) March 9, 2021