Commander, Carrier Strike Group 8, abbreviated as CCSG-8 or COMCARSTRKGRU 8, is one of five

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

carrier strike group A carrier strike group (CSG) is a type of carrier battle group of the United States Navy. It is an operational formation composed of roughly 7,500 personnel, usually an aircraft carrier, at least one cruiser, a destroyer squadron of at least t ...

s currently assigned to the

United States Fleet Forces Command The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFF) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United Sta ...

. the group

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the ...

is the ''Nimitz''-class aircraft carrier . , the other units of the group are the guided-missile cruiser ,

Carrier Air Wing One Carrier Air Wing One (CVW-1) is a United States Navy aircraft carrier air wing based at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, with most of its various squadrons also home based at NAS Oceana. Additional squadrons are based at Naval Station Norfolk ...

, the ships of

Destroyer Squadron 28 Destroyer Squadron 28 (DESRON 28), is a squadron of warships of the United States Navy. It is an operational component of Carrier Strike Group Eight Commander, Carrier Strike Group 8, abbreviated as CCSG-8 or COMCARSTRKGRU 8, is one of five U. ...

As of 2021, Destroyer Squadron 28 was made up of , , , and as well as the

Royal Norwegian Navy The Royal Norwegian Navy ( no, Sjøforsvaret, , Sea defence) is the branch of the Norwegian Armed Forces responsible for naval operations of Norway. , the Royal Norwegian Navy consists of approximately 3,700 personnel (9,450 in mobilized state, ...

's frigate HNoMS ''Fridtjof Nansen'' (F310), which joined the strike group for one deployment. The group was placed under

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

command as a result of the buildup of Russian forces on the Ukrainian border prior to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...

History

During 1994, was a unit of Carrier Group 8. During 1999, the previous Carrier Group 8's flagship was ''Eisenhower''. In May and June 1998, ''Vella Gulf'' completed a two-month

BALTOPS BALTOPS (Baltic Operations) is an annual military exercise, held and sponsored by the Commander, United States Naval Forces Europe, since 1971, in the Baltic Sea and the regions surrounding it. The purpose of BALTOPS is to train gunnery, replenis ...

Cruise, taking part in the 26th annual maritime exercise BALTOPS '98 in the Western

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

from 8–19 June 1998. During the exercise, Commander, Carrier Group 8, commanded the exercise from the ship. From November 2001, at the commencement of Multinational Interception Force (MIF) operations in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bo ...

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the principal naval force of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (CN) Vice Admiral Mark Hammond AM, RAN. CN is also jointly responsible to the Minister o ...

ships came under the control ('chopped to the OPCON') of Commander Carrier Group 8, Rear Admiral

Mark P. Fitzgerald Mark P. Fitzgerald (born 1951) is a retired United States Navy admiral. He is the former Commander, United States Naval Forces Europe – Commander, United States Naval Forces Africa and Commander, Allied Joint Force Command Naples. He previously s ...

. Fitzgerald was also serving as Commander Task Force 50 (CTF 50) embarked in the carrier . The group was established by redesignation of the former Carrier Group 8 on 1 October 2004. The Strike Group deployed on 2 January 2010 to the Middle East to help with operations by the U.S.

5th Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

and

6th 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second ...

Fleets. Effective 1 October 2012, when not deployed, Carrier Strike Group 8 is part of the

U.S. Fleet Forces Command The United States Fleet Forces Command (USFF) is a service component command of the United States Navy that provides naval forces to a wide variety of U.S. forces. The naval resources may be allocated to Combatant Commanders such as United Stat ...

, and its commander reports to Commander

Task Force 80 Task Force 80, abbreviated as TF-80, has been the designation of several U.S. Navy task forces, with its current use associated with the United States Fleet Forces Command headquartered at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. Historical antecedents ...

, the director of Fleet Forces' Maritime Headquarters. Carrier Strike Group 8 is designated Task Group 80.3. On 6 October 2014,

announced that the Carrier Strike Group 8 command staff would deploy with ''Truman'', instead of ''Eisenhower'', in accordance with the U.S. Navy's Optimized Fleet Response Plan (O-FRP). This change does not affect the other ships or units that are otherwise assigned to either strike groups. On 24 January 2022 it was announced that the strike group had been placed under

command for planned exercises in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

. This was the first time a full US carrier strike group had been placed under NATO command since the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

Past Commanders

* Rear Admiral

Jay L. Johnson Jay Lynn Johnson (born June 5, 1946) is a retired United States Navy admiral who served as the 26th Chief of Naval Operations from 1996 to 2000. He was later president and chief executive officer of General Dynamics. Early life Johnson was born i ...

* Rear Admiral Charles S. Abbot, May 1994 - July 1995 * Rear Admiral

William J. Fallon William Joseph Fallon (born December 30, 1944) is a retired United States Navy four-star admiral who retired after serving for over 41 years. His last military assignment was as Commander, U.S. Central Command from March 2007 to March 2008. ADM ...

, July 1995 - February 1996 * Rear Admiral Gregory G. Johnson, February 1996 - August 1997 * Rear Admiral

* Rear Admiral George E. Mayer * Rear Admiral H. Denby Starling II, July 2003 - July 2004 * Rear Admiral William J. McCarthy, July 2004 - July 2005 * Rear Admiral Allen G. Myers, July 2005 - June 2007 * Rear Admiral Philip H. Cullom * Rear Admiral Kurt W. Tidd * Rear Admiral

Philip S. Davidson Philip Scot Davidson (born August 24, 1960) is a retired four-star admiral in the United States Navy who last served as the 25th commander of United States Indo-Pacific Command from May 30, 2018 to April 30, 2021. He previously served as the comm ...

* Rear Admiral Michael C. Manazir, September 2011 - June 2013 * Rear Admiral

Michael M. Gilday Michael Martin Gilday (born October 10, 1962) is a United States Navy officer who has served as the 32nd chief of naval operations since August 22, 2019. Gilday has commanded two destroyers, served as Director of the Joint Staff, commanded the ...

, June 2013 - June 2014 * Rear Admiral Victorino G. Mercado, June 2014 - April 2015 * Rear Admiral Bret C. Batchelder, April 2015 - July 2016 * Rear Admiral Dale E. Horan, July 2016 - September 2017 * Rear Admiral Eugene H. Black III, September 2017 - April 2019 * Rear Admiral Andrew J. Loiselle, April 2019 - June 2020 * Rear Admiral Ryan B. Scholl, June 2020 - August 2021 * Rear Admiral Curt A. Renshaw, August 2021 - May 2022 * Rear Admiral Paul C. Spedero Jr., May 2022 - present

Carrier Air Wing

comprises: *''Strike Fighter Squadron 11'', (

VFA-11 Strike Fighter Squadron 11 (VFA-11) is a United States Navy strike fighter squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia, United States. The squadron was established in 1950 and is nicknamed "Red Rippers" (call sign "Ripper"). VFA-1 ...

) *''Strike Fighter Squadron 81'', (

VFA-81 Strike Fighter Squadron 81 (VFA-81), also known as the "Sunliners", is a United States Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet strike fighter squadron stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana. They are a part of Carrier Air Wing One, their radio callsign is ''Inf ...

) *''Strike Fighter Squadron 34'', ( VFA-34) *''Strike Fighter Squadron 211'', (

VFA-211 Strike Fighter Squadron 211 (VFA-211), nicknamed the "Fighting Checkmates", is an aviation unit of the United States Navy established in 1945. The squadron is based at Naval Air Station Oceana and is equipped with the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Horne ...

) *''Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 126'', ( VAW-126) *''Electronic attack Squadron 140'', ( VAQ-137) *''Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40 Det. 2'', (

VRC-40 Fleet Logistics Support Squadron 40 (VRC-40), also known as the "Rawhides", is a United States Navy fleet logistics support squadron based at NS Norfolk. Commissioned in 1960, it is one of only two active fleet logistics squadrons in the Navy, th ...

) *''Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 11'', ( HSC-11) *''Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 72'', ( HSM-72)

Aircraft operated

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet The Boeing F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet are twin-engine, carrier-capable, multirole fighter aircraft variants based on the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. The F/A-18E single-seat and F/A-18F tandem-seat variants are larger and more ad ...

* EA-18 Growler *

E-2C Hawkeye The Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. This twin- turboprop aircraft was designed and developed during the late 1950s and early 1960s by the Grumman Aircraft ...

C-2A Greyhound Grading in education is the process of applying standardized measurements for varying levels of achievements in a course. Grades can be assigned as letters (usually A through F), as a range (for example, 1 to 6), as a percentage, or as a numbe ...

MH-60S Seahawk The Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk (or Sea Hawk) is a twin turboshaft engine, multi-mission United States Navy helicopter based on the United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk and a member of the Sikorsky S-70 family. The most significant modificatio ...

MH-60R Seahawk The Sikorsky SH-60/MH-60 Seahawk (or Sea Hawk) is a twin turboshaft engine, multi-mission United States Navy helicopter based on the United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk and a member of the Sikorsky S-70 family. The most significant modificat ...

Notes

References

External links

Projected new Fleet Response Plan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carrier Strike Group 08 Carrier Strike Groups Military in Norfolk, Virginia Military units and formations established in 2004