The Pentagon ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to return to the United States after extending its deployment to patrol the eastern Mediterranean Sea in support of Israel after the October 7th Hamas attack, Politico reports. The carrier strike group included the cruiser Normandy, and the destroyers Ramage, Carney, Roosevelt and Thomas Hudner; some of those ships in the group have transited the Suez Canal to thwart Houthi missile and drone attacks on Red Sea shipping coming from Yemen.
It is unclear if any of those ships will stay in the region in support of that mission or to support the replacement US Navy group being sent to the region, which will led by the amphibious assault ship the USS Bataan along with its support ships, Mesa Verde and Carter Hall.