California-based military units take lead in U.S. airstrikes on Islamic State
Military units based in California have now been given the lead in the U.S.-led campaign of bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria.
On Saturday, the Navy announced that the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, based at North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado, has relieved the carrier George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf to continue the airstrikes that began Aug. 6.
Aboard the Vinson is Carrier Air Wing 17 from Naval Air Station Lemoore near Fresno, with 67 aircraft. The Bush and its air squadrons will now depart for Norfolk, Va.
The Vinson is accompanied by the destroyers Sterett, Gridley and Dewey, and the cruiser Bunker Hill, all based in San Diego. The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group left San Diego on Aug. 22.
“We are ready on arrival to execute the tasking of our leadership,” said Rear Adm. Christopher Grady, the strike group commander.
Also in the Persian Gulf region are 4,000 Marines and sailors on the three ships of the San Diego-based Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group. The Marines are from the Camp Pendleton-based 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit.
The Department of Defense also recently deployed 2,300 Marines from Twentynine Palms, Camp Pendleton and the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego to bolster the “crisis response capability” in the Middle East. The force will be based in Kuwait.
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