NAVY WIRE SERVICE (NWS) -  2 September 1999 -

NWS02sep-2. T.R., CVW Eight depart the Arabian Gulf
by USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) Public Affairs

     ARABIAN GULF (NWS) -- After six weeks supporting 
Operation Southern Watch, USS Theodore Roosevelt and 
embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) Eight departed the Arabian 
Gulf after being relieved by USS Constellation (CV 63) 
August 28.
     T.R., CVW Eight and the 4,800 crewmembers aboard 
departed Norfolk, Va., March 26. The aircraft carrier and 
the Theodore Roosevelt Battle Group left for a routine six-
month deployment to the Arabian Gulf. However, on April 6, 
T.R. was diverted to the Ionian Sea to participate in 
Operation Allied Force to support the NATO-led air campaign 
in Kosovo. During the 10-week campaign, over 3,000 combat 
sorties were launched from T.R. without a single loss of 
aircraft or personnel. Air Wing Eight aircraft expended more 
than 800 tons of ordnance during the conflict. This 
operation also marked the first time a U.S. carrier battle 
group was transferred to NATO operational control.
     The T.R. and CVW Eight team arrived in the Arabian Gulf 
on July 14 to support the coalition-enforced no-fly zone in 
Southern Iraq. Four days later, CVW Eight F/A-18 Hornets and 
F-14 Tomcats used precision-guided munitions to strike an 
Iraqi surface-to-air missile site. 
     As T.R. and CVW Eight completed their time on station 
in the Arabian Gulf, more than 2,300 sorties had been flown 
and more than four million gallons of JP-5 fuel was burned. 
These sorties included eight separate combat strikes on 
Iraqi air defense sites, and more than 30 tons of ordnance 
expended in response to Iraqi aggression against coalition 
aircraft. These bombardments represent the first time in 
recent history that strikes from the same aircraft carrier 
have taken place in two theaters of operation within one 
deployment.
     USS Theodore Roosevelt is homeported in Norfolk and
CVW Eight is based at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va.
     For more information on the ships of USS Theodore 
Roosevelt's Battle Group and squadrons of CVW Eight, visit 
the T.R. web site at < http://www.spear.navy.mil/tr/>.
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