The Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group leaves the Middle East

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower leaves Middle Eastern waters after eight months of skirmishes and fighting with Houthi militias in the waters around Yemen.

The aircraft carrier and the three ships of its carrier battle group will now head for Europe before eventually returning to the United States, the U.S. Central Command confirmed in a statement on X (the Department of Defense also issued a similar statement).

“With over 30,000 flight hours and over 55,000 miles flown, the IKE CSG has demonstrated our commitment to regional stability and protecting freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” the CENTCOM statement said. “The IKE CSG has also maintained its commitment to the safety of all seafarers, rescuing seafarers in distress on multiple occasions after the Iran-backed Houthis attacked innocent seafarers without cause.”

The carrier battle group’s deployment had already been extended before, most recently in May.

The Ike, as it is known, and its carrier battle group, which includes a carrier squadron, were deployed to waters around the Middle East in October, following the October 7 terrorist attack and the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war. It was originally deployed as a deterrent against “hostile action,” as Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin noted at the time. However, when the Houthis began attacking merchant ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to pressure Israel to end the war, the Ike became heavily involved in maritime security and countering attacks on merchant ships.

The Houthi movement, a religious and Yemeni nationalist group allied with Iran that has controlled most of Yemen since the long civil war, has spent more than half a year attacking these ships with drones and missiles. Along with other naval vessels, the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group fired these munitions while also targeting Houthi positions inside Yemen and participating in multinational bombing campaigns in the country.

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The Ike and its squadron of fighter jets also helped shoot down several drones and missiles fired at Israel by Iran and its regional partners in April. Some of the Ike’s crew wore patches this spring that read “Red Sea – Drone War Attack.”

The USS Gerald R. Ford and its carrier group, which were also deployed to the waters around the Middle East in October after the start of the Israel-Gaza war, completed their deployment in January.

In place of the Eisenhower carrier battle group, the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier battle group will be relocated from the Pacific to the Red Sea. According to CENTCOM, the new battle group will “enhance CENTCOM’s ability to deter aggression, ensure regional stability, and protect freedom of navigation in the region.”

Despite months of successful interception operations and dozens of targeted attacks on Houthi boats by the Ike and its support vessels, as well as several large-scale airstrikes on cities in Yemen, attacks on ships have not stopped. In fact, a second merchant ship was sunk this month, following the complete sinking of one ship in March. Another ship was damaged in a Houthis’ attack.

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