SECDEF Orders U.S. Carrier USS Harry S. Truman to Stay in Mediterranean to Reassure Allies

A U.S. carrier strike group is lingering in the Mediterranean Sea rather than journeying to the Middle East on orders from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), Carrier Air Wing 1 and its escorts are now operating in the Ionian Sea between Greece and Italy rather than resume a planned transit through the Suez Canal to U.S. Central Command, a defense official confirmed to USNI News. The schedule change, blessed by Austin, is to reassure European allies of U.S. commitment to regional security, one official said without mentioning the ongoing Russian military buildup on the eastern border…