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Stennis leaves home port for Middle East

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The aircraft carrier John C. Stennis set sail for the Middle East on Tuesday, leaving its Bremerton, Wash., home port to help beef up U.S. forces near Iraq and Iran.

The Stennis’ arrival, expected in about a month, will mark the first time since the U.S.-led Iraq invasion in 2003 that the U.S. will have two carrier battle groups in the region.

The increase in forces is a show of strength by the U.S. in the face of Iran’s growing regional assertiveness and a perception among adversaries that the U.S. is vulnerable in Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday.

Last week, President Bush ordered 21,500 more soldiers to Iraq. The Stennis is part of the call-up.

The Stennis, a Nimitz-class carrier with approximately 3,200 sailors, will stop off in San Diego to pick up an air wing of more than 80 planes, including F/A-18 Hornet and Superhornet fighter-bombers.

After a monthlong voyage across the Pacific and Indian oceans, the Stennis will join the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, which is already tasked to the Navy’s 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, said Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl of the 5th Fleet.

Once in Middle East waters, the second aircraft carrier will significantly boost U.S. air power in the region and serve as a reminder of U.S. firepower to Iran.

“This demonstrates our resolve to do what we can to bring security and stability to the region,” Aandahl said. “That’s obviously to dissuade others from acting counter to our national interest.”

The arrival of the nuclear-powered Stennis comes in addition to a Patriot anti-missile battalion that Gates said will be sent to a U.S. allied Gulf Arab country, as well as the additional troops that President Bush said were part of an increase in U.S. forces in Iraq.

The Pentagon has not said where the Patriots will be based.

The Stennis was previously in line to deploy to the Pacific, where a key concern is North Korea. Instead, the carrier battle group will focus on Iraq, Afghanistan or join the Eisenhower-led task force on its current mission, off the coast of Somalia, Aandahl said.

“We are simply reaffirming that statement of the importance of the Gulf region to the United States and our determination to be an ongoing strong presence in that area for a long time into the future,” Gates said.

Iran has denounced the Patriot deployment as part of U.S. plan to turn Arab countries into a front line of protection for Israel.

In December, Tehran’s top national security official, Ali Larijani, asked Arab leaders to shut down U.S. military bases in the region. Larijani invited Gulf countries to build a regional security alliance with Iran that would replace the U.S. security umbrella. But Gulf Arab governments have shown no interest in a security alliance with Iran.

Washington will maintain two carriers in the Middle East “as long as the situation demands it,” Aandahl said. A typical carrier deployment lasts six months.