Supercarrier deployed

The USS George H. W. Bush was deployed from Norfolk, Va. last week to provide maritime security near Europe and the Middle East. The United States' newest aircraft carrier left the naval station in Norfolk under the command of Rear Adm. Nora Tyson, the first women ever to lead a US carrier strike group.

The USS George H. W. Bush, the tenth and final Nimitz-class supercarrier of the US navy, is part of the George H. W. Bush Carrier Strike Group that consists of eight aircraft squadrons and five ships. The destroyer, USS Truxtun, is also on its maiden deployment.

"It's a pretty historic cruise because it's the first for those two ships but it's also the year of our centennial of naval aviation, so that's a milestone and it's pretty special for us to be deploying this year specifically," said Tyson.

Tyson, a native of Tennessee, has an extensive, 30-year career in the US Navy that includes deploying twice to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and commanding the USS Bataan during the Navy's effort to help the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. Recently, she has served as director of staff for Naval Forces Europe and commander of Task Force 73, a logistics group in the Pacific.

"I'm very fortunate, one to be in this position, but I've been fortunate during my career that the laws for women serving in the military have changed at the right time for me during my career that ultimately I'm able to be here and command this strike group," Tyson said, calling it a "phenomenal honor."

Tyson's assignment as commander of a carrier strike group is one of several Navy "gender barriers" that have been broken over the past year. On January 9, 2010, Secretary of the Navy Ray Maybus announced that women would be assigned to submarines, starting in late 2011. On June 3, 2010, Cmdr. Sara Joyner became the first woman to lead a Carrier Air Wing.

Critics have objected to this trend for years. Albert Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has written that placing women in combat roles is inappropriate, "putting women in the line of fire while sending all the wrong messages about family, gender, and moral honor." Combat exclusion laws were repealed in 1993, and in March of 1994, women served on combatant ships for the first time. Now, Tyson commands approximately 6,000 sailors and the nation's newest nuclear-powered carrier.

Construction of the USS George H.W. Bush began in 2001 in Newport News, Va. On December 9, 2002, the ship was officially named after the 41st President of the United States.

The USS George H.W. Bush was commissioned in 2009 and has been training with the other ships in the strike group for almost a year. Along with the USS George H.W. Bush and the USS Truxtun, ships in the GHWB strike group include two guided-missile cruisers, the USS Gettysburg and the USS Anzio, and a destroyer, the USS Mitscher.

The strike group is deployed to conduct security operations in promotion of regional stability. According to the US Navy website, the strike group has undergone training that makes them capable of performing a variety of tasks, including counter-piracy operations, humanitarian support, and disaster relief assistance.

"The world is pretty unpredictable right now. And as we tell our sailors every day, we need to be prepared for any contingency," Tyson said. "If you watch the news every day it's pretty unpredictable from one day to the next."

Although the cruise is scheduled for six months, it is possible that the strike group could remain at sea for a longer period of time.

"It's my responsibility to be ready to do whatever missions we're asked to do, whether it's counter-piracy or flying missions over Afghanistan or Iraq or working with coalition ships," Tyson told The Virginian-Pilot. "Any possible mission that we could be assigned, we train for."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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