TPO – The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier with F-35C and F/A-18 Block III fighter jets has arrived in the Middle East, bringing the total number of US aircraft carriers in the region to two.
The US military said on Wednesday (August 21) that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its escorting destroyers had arrived in the Middle East after the US defense secretary ordered the carrier strike group to accelerate its deployment.
The arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln brings the total number of US aircraft carriers in the region to two. The USS Theodore Roosevelt was already in the Middle East before regional tensions escalated.
“The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), equipped with F-35C and F/A-18 Block III fighter aircraft, entered the US Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of responsibility,” the military command in charge of the Middle East region announced on social network X.
The announcement added that USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) was escorted by Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 21 and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9.
It is known that previously, on August 11, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin requested that the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln “speed up its move” to the Middle East, after directing the ship’s deployment to the region in early August.
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), the fifth ship of the United States Navy’s Nimitz-class, was named after former President Abraham Lincoln.
The ship is 332.8 m long, 76.8 m wide, and can carry up to 85 planes and helicopters. Equipped with two nuclear reactors, the USS Abraham Lincoln can travel at speeds of more than 56 km/h.
