A hug for his wife as US sends more warships
TENDERLY holding each other, an American sailor says goodbye to his wife in a scene reminiscent of wartime farewells.
Thousands of naval personnel were waved off by their loved ones on Wednesday as they were deployed on a mission to Europe amid preparations for a military assault on Syria.
The 6,500 US servicemen and women were part of the USS Harry S Truman battle group that set sail from a naval base in Norfolk, Virginia.
The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and strike force is on its way for a regularly scheduled deployment to Europe.
It is armed with cruise missiles and an array of warplanes. The ship, which can accommodate 90 aircraft and is as high as a 4-storey building, will take more than a week to cross the Atlantic.
The USS Harry S Truman’s most recent deployment ended in July 016, when it carried out an eight-month air operation against Islamic State.
Its planes dropped more than 800 tons of bombs on targets from its base in the eastern Mediterranean.
On Monday the USS Donald Cook, a destroyer which is armed with more than 50 missiles, was in the eastern Mediterranean within striking distance of Syria.