The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, foreground, relieves the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush in the Persian Gulf Oct. 18, 2014, during Inherent Resolve. The George H.W. Bush was to leave the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility for its home port in Norfolk, Va. President Barack Obama authorized humanitarian aid deliveries to Iraq as well as targeted airstrikes to protect U.S. personnel from extremists known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. U.S. Central Command directed the operations.