TEHRAN, November 19 (MNA) – The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) has left the Middle East, marking only the second time in over a year that no US Navy aircraft carriers are present in the region.USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) has entered the US 7th Fleet, leaving the Middle East without a carrier for just the second time in over a year, USNI News has learned.

The Harry S Truman Carrier Strike Group is currently in the Eastern Atlantic en route to the Mediterranean Sea.

The carrier strike group will likely travel to US Central Command as part of the continued merchant shipping protection mission Operation Prosperity Guardian.

The last time the US left the Middle East without a carrier strike group was in June when USS Dwight D Eisenhower (CVN-69) entered the Mediterranean while USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-73) made its way to CENTCOM The arrival of TR in June allowed the Dwight D Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to leave the Middle East after seven months.

The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Middle East in August, joining the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group before the TR left in September.

MNA/