This is the full pull out for deployment of the USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN71 on March, 11 2015. The Roosevelt will be making a world tour as it makes its way to its new Home port in San Diego later in the year. From NavyTimes: NORFOLK, Va. — After a two-day delay caused by a tiny aquatic invertebrate that fouled the intakes of seawater condensers, a historic deployment got underway Wednesday morning when the carrier Theodore Roosevelt bid Virginia farewell after 28 years. The flattop is scheduled to arrive at its new home — Naval Base Coronado, California — after an eight-month world cruise. That cruise includes the first three-carrier swap of the modern Navy. The carrier Ronald Reagan will switch its homeport from Coronado to Yokosuka, Japan, while the George Washington heads to Newport News, Virginia, for refueling and a complex overhaul scheduled for 2017. Theodore Roosevelt will take Reagan's place, as the Pentagon's Asia-Pacific strategy requires the Navy to keep a six-carrier presence in those waters. Reagan's crew has dubbed this the "three presidents cruise." This cruise also marks the first deployment of the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, which will be flown by Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 125, the Tigertails. It also is the first deployment of the Naval Integrated Fire Control-Counter Air system, which networks the strike group's air, surface and underwater assets to provide situational awareness unmatched by modern technologies. In tandem with the E-2D, this cooperative targeting allows commanders to identify and destroy threats from distances well beyond the radar horizon. While the deployment marks many beginnings, it also serves as the last deployment in which a helicopter antisubmarine squadron flies the SH-60F and H models. Upon return, the HS-11 Dragon Slayers will transition into a helicopter sea combat squadron and fly the MH-60S. Still, the focus of Rear Adm. Andrew "Woody" Lewis is not on the history books, but the more than 6,000 sailors serving aboard five ships and the nine embarked squadrons of Carrier Air Wing 1 that comprise the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group. Friends and family say good-bye as the cruiser Normandy Friends and family say good-bye as the cruiser Normandy departs Norfolk, Va., on a deployment to 5th and 6th fleet areas of responsibility. The carrier's departure was delayed two days by microorganisms that clogged the ship's seawater intakes. (Photo: MC1 Josue L. Escobosa/Navy) "This is by far and away the most intense training we have done in preparation for a deployment, and we are more ready than we have ever been in the past," said Lewis, who is on his 11th carrier deployment. The ship has launched 12,000 aircraft since it completed RCOH in August 2013. Though the Optimized-Fleet Response Plan does not officially begin until the fall, the TR CSG was able to conduct aggregated training and a group sail, key facets of OFRP in which ships and commanders that deploy together first train together. Lewis said the benefits of this training have been evident during work-ups, adding that the integration has given him "significantly more confidence" in the strike group. Some pretty serious business will take place amid the carrier swaps. The Theodore Roosevelt will pass through 6th Fleet to relieve carrier Carl Vinson, now in the Persian Gulf, and take point in the 5th Fleet area of responsibility. When that mission is complete, the carrier will pass through 7th and 3rd Fleets on its way to California. Once there, roughly 800 members of the 3,000-man crew will remain with the ship, and families will make the permanent change-of-station move. Damage Controlman 1st Class (SW/AW) Daniel Hernandez is among them. This is his third ship and second float in 11 years of service. "I know it is going to be a long cruise, but I'm looking forward to seeing what ports we get to visit," he said. "I joined the Navy to see the world, and that's exactly what I am about to get. And I am looking forward to living in sunny San Diego." Hernandez said the carrier had gone to great lengths to ensure that the world cruise followed by PCS will go as smoothly as possible for sailors and their families, a point echoed by Capt. Daniel Grieco, the TR's skipper. He said each sailor and family's situation has been addressed on an individual basis; the command is also working personnel swaps to make sure as many as possible land on their preferred coast. Roughly 1,300 crew members will return to Hampton Roads to join the crew of George Washington. The destroyer Winston S. Churchill leaves Norfolk, The destroyer Winston S. Churchill leaves Norfolk, Va., on March 9 on an eight-month deployment with the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group. (Photo: MC1 Josue L. Escobosa/Navy)

• published: 11 Mar 2015
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