Is war in air in the Gulf? Claude Salhani UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL Thursday, August 14, 2008
...Leading the joint naval task force is the nuclear-powered carrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its Carrier Strike Group 2. In addition to the 80-plus warplanes the Roosevelt normally transports, it is carrying an additional load of Rafale fighter jets from the French carrier Charles de Gaulle, currently in dry dock. Also reportedly heading toward Iran are another nuclear-powered carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, and its Carrier Strike Group 7; the USS Iwo Jima; the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal; and a number of French warships, including the nuclear hunter-killer submarine Amethyste. Once on site, the joint naval force in the Persian Gulf region will be joining two other U.S. battle groups already in position: the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Peleliu, the Lincoln with its carrier strike group and the latter with an expeditionary strike group. Meanwhile, Tehran seems undeterred,….
