Why the US Navy has 10 ships, 130 aircraft and 9,000 personnel in the Mediterranean

[nitpicker]

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/04/24/why-the-us-navy-has-10-ships-130-us-aircraft-and-9000-personnel-in-the-mediterranean/

Why the US Navy has 10 ships, 130 aircraft and 9,000 personnel in the Mediterranean

By: Mark D. Faram    1 day ago

Two deployed aircraft carriers, heading opposite directions, met up in the Mediterranean Sea to do some high-end ops and snap some selfies to commemorate the event. The event happened after the carrier John C. Stennis strike group transited the Suez Canal, entering the Mediterranean, where the Abraham Lincoln strike group awaited.

The combined strike groups means that, right now, more than 130 U.S. aircraft, 10 ships and 9,000 sailors and Marines are now operating in close proximity in the eastern Mediterranean.

Only twice before in the past two decades have two U.S. aircraft carriers operated together in the Mediterranean Sea at the same time. The last time was three years ago, when the carriers Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower crossed paths in June 2016 at the end and beginning of their respective cruises, operating together for a time.
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But this time, it’s the Russians who are most likely to pay attention to the Navy’s armada as tensions have risen in the adjacent Black Sea in recent months as the two Cold War adversaries have again become near-peer competitors.
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[soryang]

1. It used to be the rule to have two carriers in the Med

Now it's the exception. With the virtual collapse of the large Russian Mediterranean fleet that patrolled there during the cold war, it really isn't necessary any more.

One can question the survivability of allied fleets in the Black Sea. It's really the nuclear umbrella and the threat of nuclear war that protects these ships in such a small vulnerable area in Russia's backyard. While presence may be reassuring to the small states in the region, somehow it isn't so comforting and secure a notion as some would like to think.