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UPDATED: Aircraft Carrier USS Nimitz Sailing to Middle East, Says Official
Mallory ShelbourneJune 16, 2025 10:04 AM - Updated: June 17, 2025 3:14 PM
news.usni.org
The U.S. Navy’s oldest aircraft carrier is transiting the Strait of Malacca, as Iran and Israel continue to exchange missile fire.
USS Nimitz (CVN-68) sailed west through the Singapore Strait Monday, bound for the Indian Ocean, according to ship spotters. The carrier is sailing to the Middle East, a defense official told USNI News.
The Washington-based carrier was already scheduled to sail to U.S. Central Command to eventually relieve USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), which deployed in mid-November and will need to head home soon.
Nimitz was operating in the South China Sea last week, according to the USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker. As of Monday morning, Vinson is operating in the Arabian Sea with the cruiser and three destroyers that make up the Vinson Carrier Strike Group.
Nimitz‘s transit through the Singapore Strait comes several days after Israel struck Iran’s nuclear sites to degrade Tehran’s nuclear capabilities.
In addition to the carrier movement, U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotankers and K-46A Pegasus tankers departed the continental U.S. Sunday and flew east toward Europe, according to Flightradar24.
There are currently two destroyers – USS Forrest Sherman (DDG-98) and USS Truxtun (DDG-103) – operating in the Red Sea. USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) and USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) are operating in the Eastern Mediterranean and USS Arleigh Burke (DDG-51) is in port in Souda Bay, Crete.
Since Israel’s initial Thursday evening attack, the two countries have lobbed missiles at each other. Iran has also fired drones into Israel.
Israel launched the first attack several days before the next round of nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran were scheduled to start Sunday in Oman. Those talks have since been scrubbed The New York Times reported Saturday.
Nimitz‘s transit through the Strait of Malacca leaves USS George Washington (CVN-73), the Navy’s forward-deployed aircraft carrier based in Yokosuka, Japan, as the sole U.S. flattop operating in the Indo-Pacific.
