The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman deployed for the Middle East on Monday, in a planned but well-timed departure just days after the terrorist attacks in Paris.
The ship, along with a carrier air wing, one cruiser and four destroyers, left Norfolk, Va., Monday morning.
The seven-month deployment was already planned and is not in response to the attacks in Paris, but those aboard the carrier are ready to bring “violent destruction” if needed, the ship’s commanding officer Capt. Ryan Scholl told the Navy Times.
Once the ship reaches the Middle East, it will close a weeks-long carrier gap that began in mid-October, which the carrier Theodore Roosevelt left.
The French carrier Charles de Gaulle is leaving for the Middle East on Wednesday, the U.S. Naval Institute reported. That deployment was also planned before the Paris attack, but will contribute to the coalition anti-Islamic State campaign in which France has said it will play a larger role.
