Sailors on the San Diego-based USS Theodore Roosevelt and their families can expect the ship's upcoming Middle East deployment to last eight months, Navy leaders reportedly said this week.
The comments, from the Navy's top admiral and its top enlisted sailor, come as another San Diego carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, heads home from a nine-month deployment.
Adm. Daryl Caudle and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Perryman spoke to reporters Wednesday in Hampton Roads, Va., USNI News reported.
Caudle said he prefers these deployments don't go longer than seven months. Other carriers operating in Iran, such as the USS Gerald Ford and the Lincoln, had their deployments extended while already at sea.
That creates stress for families, he said.
Perryman said that's why the Navy is telling the crew of the Roosevelt to plan to be gone eight months.
On Aug. 6 in Coronado, Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao told families of Lincoln sailors the service was planning to have the Roosevelt relieve the Lincoln.
The Navy dispatched the Japan-based USS George Washington to the Middle East earlier this month after a series of reports of poor morale and conditions on the Lincoln.
The Roosevelt will be relieving the Washington, according to USNI News.
The Lincoln is preparing for a port call in Pattaya, Thailand next week, Thai officials told reporters.
Neither leaders said exactly when the Roosevelt will leave San Diego. The ship spent most of the summer at sea participating in the multi-national Rim of the Pacific exercise.
