NATO carrier strike groups are patrolling waters around Europe. One of the five groups operating in the area is led by the US Navy's newest supercarrier. Bush and Gerald R. Ford, the service's newest supercarrier, the British Royal Navy's HMS Queen Elizabeth, France's Charles De Gaulle, and Italy's ITS Cavour. The strike groups, which include not just carriers but their escorts as well, are carrying out routine patrol missions in the Atlantic Ocean, North Sea, and Mediterranean Sea. The Navy said in a Thursday statement on the carrier operations that each country has its own mission objectives and that it is not uncommon for multiple carrier strike groups to be deployed at the same time since NATO countries maintain a continued presence in waters around Europe.

---