Sailors walk the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Pacific Ocean on Oct. 25, 2023. (Jahred Johnson/U.S. Navy)
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to add comment from the U.S. 3rd Fleet.
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt steamed out of San Diego last week with little fanfare and headed toward the Western Pacific, according to a media report.
Local ship spotters witnessed the carrier depart its berth at Naval Air Station North Island on Thursday and leave San Diego Bay, according to a USNI News report Friday citing an unnamed defense official.
The deployment was not initially publicized by the Navy. A spokesman for the U.S. 3rd Fleet, Lt. Mohammad Issa, told Stars and Stripes by email Tuesday that Carrier Strike Group 9, led by the Theodore Roosevelt, “is currently underway conducting routine operations in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations.” No other details about the patrol were provided.
The Theodore Roosevelt completed an 18-month maintenance and upgrade period in March at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., including a retrofit to its flight deck to handle F-35C Lightning II fighter jets.
In December, the carrier completed another maintenance period and an exercise described by the Department of Defense as a “final workup phase and certification event before a scheduled deployment.”
The deployment comes amid an operational stand-down of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft for the Air Force, Navy and Marines following the Nov. 29 crash of an Air Force CV-22 Osprey off Japan’s southwestern coast.
The crash, which killed all eight crewmembers on board, sparked an investigation into the tiltrotor. The stand-down is expected to continue pending the results of the investigation.
There were no updates on the stand-down as of Saturday, Air Force Special Operations Command told Stars and Stripes by email that day.
Ospreys are typically used as a means of transport for personnel, supplies and equipment for deployed aircraft carriers. In lieu of Ospreys, two C-2A Greyhounds — a fixed-wing aircraft capable of carrier takeoffs and landings — will deploy along with the Theodore Roosevelt, USNI reported.
The Theodore Roosevelt will be the second carrier strike group operating in the Western Pacific.
The USS Carl Vinson was just east of Taiwan on Jan. 11, according to USNI’s Fleet and Marine Tracker. The carrier visited Manila on Jan. 5.
The USS Ronald Reagan has been at its homeport, Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, since wrapping up its annual deployment in November.
