More than 6,000 Sailors serving aboard the five ships of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group are scheduled to depart their homeports of Norfolk, Virginia and Mayport, Floridan on Monday.
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), commanded by Capt. Daniel Grieco, will depart Naval Station Norfolk along with the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), and the guided-missile destroyers USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) and USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98), while the guided-missile destroyer USS Farragut (DDG 99) will depart Naval Station Mayport.
Commanded by Rear Adm. Andrew “Woody” Lewis, Carrier Strike Group 12 also includes Destroyer Squadron 2 and nine embarked aircraft squadrons of Carrier Air Wing 1: strike fighter squadrons VFA-11 “Red Rippers,” VMFA-251 “Thunderbolts,” VFA-136 “Knighthawks,” and VFA-211 “Checkmates;” tactical electronics warfare squadron VAQ-136 “Knighthawks;” carrier airborne early warning squadron VAW-125 “Tigertails;” fleet logistics support squadron VRC-40 “Rawhides;” helicopter maritime strike squadron HSM-46 “Grandmasters;” and helicopter sea combat squadron HS-11 “Dragonslayers.”
While deployed, the strike group will serve in the 5th and 6th U.S. Fleet areas of responsibility conducting maritime security operations, theater security cooperation efforts and missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
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Image: US Navy