From the Liveblog of
Sunday, November 15, 2026
Third US aircraft carrier said to arrive in Mideast as Washington shores up troops
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleThe USS Roosevelt has arrived in the Middle East, Axios and Channel 12 reporter Barak Ravid reports, citing a US official.
It marks an unusually high US naval presence of more than 20,000 sailors and Marines and hundreds of aircraft. It comes as the war with Iran stretches past seven months. The US Navy previously had three carriers in the Middle East in April — for the first time since 2003.
The USS George H.W. Bush and the USS George Washington are there now, along with the USS Boxer amphibious readiness group. The Pacific-based Washington had moved to the Middle East to relieve the long-deployed USS Abraham Lincoln.
????The USS Roosevelt aircraft carrier has arrived in the U.S. military central command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility earlier on Sunday, a U.S. official tells me
????The U.S. military now has three air craft carrier strike groups in CENTCOM— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) November 15, 2026
AP contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.