Factbox-US aircraft carriers – What they bring to the Middle East

The Pentagon has deployed two aircraft carriers — and their supporting ships — to the eastern Mediterranean since the attacks on Israel. The Ford, which was commissioned in 2017, is the United States' newest aircraft carrier and the world's largest, with more than 5,000 sailors aboard. The carrier, which includes a nuclear reactor, can hold more than 75 military aircraft, including fighter aircraft like the F-18 Super Hornet jets and the E-2 Hawkeye, which can act as an early warning system.