page_title: Carrier Strike Group 12
section_title: 2013–2014 operations
hierarchical_section_title: Carrier Strike Group 12 / Operational history / 2013–2014 operations
context_page_description: Carrier Strike Group Twelve is one of four U.S. Navy carrier strike groups currently assigned to the United States Fleet Forces Command. Carrier strike groups gain and maintain sea control as well as project naval airpower ashore.
  USS Gerald R. Ford is the aircraft carrier assigned as the strike group's flagship. Units currently assigned to Carrier Strike Group Twelve included Carrier Air Wing Eight; the Ticonderoga-class cruisers Vicksburg and Normandy; and Destroyer Squadron 2.
  Between 2006 and 2011, with USS Enterprise as its flagship, the group made four deployments to the U.S. Fifth Fleet in the Middle East. Strike group aircraft flew over 13,000 air combat missions in support of coalition ground forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, including 2006's Operation Medusa and Operation Mountain Fury in Iraq. The group's surface warships were also involved in several high-profile anti-piracy operations. The group participated in the multilateral exercises Anatolian Sun 2006, Reliant Mermaid 2007, BALTOPS 2008, and Malabar 2015; the bilateral exercise Inspired Union 2006; and the joint exercise Exercise Bold Alligator 2012.
context_section_description: On 22 October 2012, the Department of Defense announced that Rear Admiral Kevin Kovacich was selected to take command of Carrier Strike Group Twelve. A naval aviator, Admiral Kovacich took command of the strike group on 15 April 2013.
  Theodore Roosevelt returned to Norfolk Naval Station, Virginia, on 29 August 2013, completing its post-overhaul sea trials that concluded its four-year mid-life Refueling and Complex Overhaul. On 14 September 2013, Theodore Roosevelt successfully completed flight deck certification which entailed completing a total of 160 carrier landings during daytime and night-time operations. Other certification drills included rigging the emergency barricade, flight deck firefighting evolutions, and crash and salvage operations. On 17 September 2013, Theodore Roosevelt completed its first underway replenishment in over four years.
  At the start of 2014, Theodore Roosevelt and the rest of Carrier Strike Group Twelve were in port and not underway. On 15 January 2014, Theodore Roosevelt departed Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, for carrier qualifications prior to undertaking the group pre-deployment exercise. On 20 March 2014, the U.S. Defense Department announced Admiral Kovacich's next assignment was as the director for plans and programs of the U.S. African Command, and his relief was Rear Admiral Andrew L. Lewis, a naval aviator.
  On 17 July 2014, Carrier Strike Group 12 carried out-at-sea maneuvers, and the carrier Harry S. Truman off-loaded its munitions to Theodore Roosevelt on 17 July 2014 in preparation for future deployments by Carrier Strike Group 12. Between 4–8 August 2014, Theodore Roosevelt completed the in-port phase of its Tailored Ship's Training Availability (TSTA) exercises. On 16 September 2014, Carrier Strike Group 12 began the at-sea phase of its TSTA exercises, as well as its Final Evaluation Problem (FEP) exercises, completing these exercises on 8 October 2014. On 8 January 2015, Carrier Strike Group 12 began its Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX). This three-week-long series of exercises test the strike group's ability to perform as an integrated formation within real-world scenarios prior to departing for its upcoming 2015 overseas deployment. Also, between 9–10 January 2015, Theodore Roosevelt on-loaded munitions during underway replenishment with from the dry cargo ship Robert E. Peary.
  On 4 March 2015, it was reported in a blogspot of the French Navy and French Ministry of Defense that during a recent training exercise off Florida the French nuclear submarine Saphir (pictured) as part of the "enemy" attack group had successfully "sunk" the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its escorts. The blogspot was later erased.
caption: French submarine Saphir
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