USS Gerald R. Ford with Carrier Air Wing 8 embarked. Official Navy photo.
by James C. Sherlock
The U.S. Navy has sailed towards the sounds of battle for more than 200 years.
This time it is responding to the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, already in the Mediterranean Sea as part of permanently increased presence in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, to move to east as a reaction to Saturday’s attacks in Israel.
The Israelis will deal with Gaza.
The repositioning, crucial for our Israeli ally and our own regional interests, holds at deadly risk other actors in the region that may consider joining in the battle.
The officers and sailors in that battle group are mostly Virginians.
Let’s look at Carrier Strike Group 12.
Carrier
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), homeported in Norfolk.
Carrier Air Wing 8
Carrier Air Wing 8 (CVW 8), stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va., is embarked aboard Ford and includes nine squadrons.
- The “Ragin’ Bulls” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 37 – F/A-18F – from Naval Air Station Oceana
- The “Blacklions” of VFA 213 – F/A-18F – from Naval Air Station Oceana
- The “Golden Warriors” of VFA 87 – F/A-18F – from Naval Air Station Oceana
- The “Tomcatters” of VFA 31 – F/A-18F – from Naval Air Station Oceana
- The “Gray Wolves” of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 142 – EA-18G – from Naval Air Station Whidbey Island
- The “Bear Aces” of Airborne Command and Control Squadron (VAW) 124 – E-2D – from Naval Air Station Norfolk
- The “Rawhides” of Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 40 – C-2A – from Naval Air Station Norfolk
- The “Spartans” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 70 – MH-60R – from Naval Air Station Jacksonville
- The “Tridents” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 9 – MH-60S – from Naval Air Station Norfolk
Cruiser
USS Normandy (CG-60), homeported at Norfolk
Destroyer Squadron 2
USS Carney (DDG-64) homeported at Mayport, Fla.
USS Roosevelt (DDG-80) – homeported at Naval Station Rota in Spain.
USS Ramage (DDG-61), homeported at Norfolk.
USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116), homeported at Mayport, Fla.
Submarines. There will be attack submarines within Tomahawk range of the battle from Norfolk, New London or both.
Bottom Line. The battle group brings to bear an enormous breadth and depth of capabilities including
- Command and control;
- Block IV Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) and a wide range of air-wing-delivered weapons;
- non-combatant evacuation;
- search and rescue;
- support to special operations;
- intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance collection and processing;
- complete onboard medical and dental teams and facilities; and
- heavy seaborne logistics from the Military Sealift Command.
Those capabilities are in range and employable now without permission of a host nation.
Carrier Air Wing 8 and TLAM are fearsome weapons meant to deter, and if deterrence fails, destroy enemies at the direction of the national command authority.
It is mostly Virginians at the battle stations and in the aircraft, protecting U.S. interests and those of an ally brutally attacked.
Godspeed.