USS Theodore Roosevelt and escort
Washington Post: What it’s like on-board a US aircraft carrier in the coalition against the Islamic State
The USS Theodore Roosevelt, whose homeport is San Diego, is a key element of the U.S.-led coalition known as Operation Inherent Resolve that is targeting the militants in Syria and Iraq. This island of steel in the Persian Gulf, some 1,090 feet (330 meters) long, is home to some 5,000 U.S. Navy aviators, sailors and Marine pilots, carrying about 70 aircraft involved in the fight.
Below deck is a complex set of passageways and tunnels, hangars and sailors’ quarters, gyms and mess halls, engine rooms and offices. Painted murals bear fighter squadron insignias, U.S. flags, the cartoon figure Popeye and other patriotic imagery. Pilots onboard have flown missions into both Iraq and Syria, part of the over 6,800 airstrikes carried out by the coalition since August 2014. Some 20 percent of all coalition strikes come from aircraft launched from the nuclear-powered Roosevelt.
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