The Battle Group of the aircraft carrier 'Harry S. Truman' is in the Mediterranean Sea and within ten days could already conduct the first raids against the Islamic State terrorist group in Iraq and Syria.
The deployment of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier had been scheduled for more than a year, but the Gulf area was expected to receive a carrier within the first three months of next year. The Paris attacks changed the Pentagon's plans.
Truman will remain in service for seven months. The Battle Group has left Norfolk the 16 last November, in Virginia and will be in a position of optimal attack in ten days.
The Group consists of the Seventh Carrier Air Wing Squadron, the 28 Destroyer Squadron, the Ticonderoga USS Anzio, the Arleigh A. Burke class missile destroyers, USS Bulkeley, USS Gravely and USS Gonzalez and two attack class Los Angeles submarines.
(photo: US DoD)
