Remember Everyone Deployed

To mention Remember Everyone Deployed or R.E.D. I'll stick with my union label, Navy. Did you know that just before Christmas of 2020, the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), its escorts and its embarked air wing began its second deployment in a year? Yes. It's a so-called double-pump deployment, that highlights how the Navy carrier’s force is under strain with too few hulls available to meet the demands of combatant commanders. This year, carrier operations are at their highest rate in a decade with several carriers unable to deploy currently in maintenance availabilities. The strike group and the air wing have been in isolation since mid-November ahead of the deployment. The TR CSG is deploying with two escorts from the earlier 2020 deployment – guided-missile cruiser USS Bunker Hill (DDG-52) and guided-missile destroyer USS Russell (DDG-59) as part of Destroyer Squadron 23. The CSG will also include the destroyer USS John Finn (DDG-113). On the East Coast, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group plans to deploy early next year for its own double-pump deployment. At least they were in port for Christmas and New Year’s.