Carrier Reagan to deploy to Pacific - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Carrier Reagan to deploy to Pacific

Despite returning home to San Diego from her maiden deployment in July, the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan will deploy into the Pacific “within weeks," according to a Pentagon source familiar with Navy operations.

Reagan will serve as the U.S. carrier in the Pacific while the Japan-based Kitty Hawk undergoes maintenance. It's unclear whether the carrier will deploy with any escorts or a carrier air wing.

Reagan's unscheduled movement could closely follow the deployment of the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group, which officials say will leave in mid-month for the Central Command area of operations. The scheduled deployment will give the U.S. a two-carrier presence in the region.

The Norfolk-based Dwight D. Eisenhower, which began launching air strikes into Afghanistan in November, entered the Persian Gulf on Dec. 11. It's now operating off the coast of Somalia.

The Stennis deployment comes as the Bush administration announced plans to send an additional 20,000 troops to Iraq. A senior defense official didn't link the two but told reporters at the Pentagon today that having “two carriers in the region is an important way to demonstrate U.S. commitment and strength.”

With the Bremerton, Wash.-based Stennis in the Middle East and the Kitty Hawk undergoing maintenance, Reagan will serve as the U.S. carrier in the Pacific. The Pentagon source familiar with Navy operations did not think Reagan would be at sea as long as six months, the length of a typical deployment.

A precise deployment date is not yet available. Reagan will leave “at the appropriate time,” the source said.

The short-fuse Reagan deployment falls under the Fleet Response Plan, which ensures that naval forces are able to deploy on short notice.

The administration's planned buildup of forces in Iraq will also keep the Boxer Expeditionary Strike Group at sea for an additional 45 days.

Its Marine contingent, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, arrived in western Iraq on Dec. 4.

Those Marines, from Camp Pendleton, have been extended there for 45 days. As a result, their ride home, the Boxer ESG, will stay in the area.

That means sailors on the amphibious assault ship Boxer, amphibious transport dock Dubuque and the dock landing ship Comstock will all be extended as well. The Pentagon source said the ships would conduct maritime security operations, safeguard and control ship entry and transit in the region.