6th Fleet Focus: Navy Quietly Deploys Carrier Near Lebanon

If you recall, in early March the US Navy sent the Nassau Expeditionary Group to operate in the Med because of the threat of instability was possible in Lebanon. That threat did not materialize at the time, but clearly the threat existed and we observe as of Sunday night, the threat has turned into reality.

Fierce clashes involving rockets and heavy machine guns erupted in Lebanon on Sunday between pro-government forces and opposition gunmen in mountains east of Beirut. At the same time Arab foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in an effort to find a solution to the worsening crisis.

The increasing violence outside the capital marked a dangerous escalation of an armed conflict that began after Hizbollah, the Shia militant group, and its opposition allies sealed off the airport and seized areas of west Beirut last week...

The longer the confrontation goes on, the greater the danger it could spread into a regional crisis, with Hizbollah backed by Syria and Iran, while the region’s main Sunni states - Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan - support the government.

Saudi and Egyptian officials have said they were dismayed by Hizbollah’s actions, which they have described as unacceptable.

While it may be taking the media a bit to realize that 1 + 1 = 2, we observed the transit of the Truman Carrier Strike Group through the Suez Canal on Thursday, and the arrival of the USS Harry S Truman (CVN 75) to Rhodes (Greece) on Friday. In other words, while the USS Harry S Truman (CVN 75) may not be operating off the coast of Iran near the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), the carrier is now operating very close to Lebanon.

The USS Harry S Truman (CVN 75) is unlikely to stay in the region for any longer than a few weeks, if it stays at all, but it is worth noting that as military activity heats up in Lebanon, there will be considerable coalition Naval forces in the region over the next few weeks. While we are not sure of the schedule for the HMS Illustrious (R06) on the Orion 08 deployment, we note that the USS Cole (DDG 67) which has been operating with the British carrier has already scheduled a port visit to Palma, Spain on Saturday. We think we remember Orion 08 being a 5 month deployment, and given the deployment began in January, it could be approaching its conclusion.

If civilian evacuations become necessary for Lebanon, we observe the Navy will likely also send a ship attached to the Nassau ESG, likely either the USS Nassau (LHA 4) or USS Nashville (LPD 13) due to the USS Ashland (LSD 48) last reported near in southern Africa in exercises with regional nations there. There are no Marines on board the ships of the Nassau ESG, so there is no possibility of Marines in Lebanon.

It is always difficult to determine which escorts are operating with the a Carrier in any given Carrier strike group due to dispersion tactics that split strike group forces over a large area once they arrive to a region, but we list the ships last known to be still be operating with the Truman CSG.

USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75)
USS San Jacinto (CG 56)
USS Hue City (CG 66)
USS Carney (DDG 64)
USS Oscar Austin (DDG 79)
USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81)
HMS Manchester (D95)
USNS Arctic (T-AOE 8)

The Navy will announce this week how long the Truman CSG will be operating in the 6th Fleet. Given the Truman CSG deployed on November 5th, and the strike group has been at sea for over 6 months now, it is likely if there is any extension to the deployment to hang around Lebanon we will see naval forces surged from the east coast to take up station, and bring the Truman sailors home.