USS EISENHOWER

It is four and a half acres of US power in the middle of the Arabian Sea but the
influence of USS Dwight D Eisenhower stretches hundreds of miles.

While the Eisenhower is ostensibly assisting US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq,
it is increasingly occupied by the looming threat of Iran.

The addition of a second aircraft carrier - the USS John C Stennis - to its strike
groups has fuelled the belief that the US is gearing up for a fight with Iran. Not since the
Iraq war in 2003 has America amassed so much fire power around the Persian Gulf.

As it patrols the shipping lanes of the Straits of Hormuz,
the Eisenhower ensures the safe passage of oil tankers.

In the carrier’s Combat Direction Center, surveillance staff can spot anything untoward within a 256 mile radius. They can identify objects as small as wooden boats on the open sea and small aircraft in a swathe of countries from the Arabian peninsula to the northern shore of the Sea of Arabia

Every plane has a crew member devoted solely to keeping it constantly
prepared for missions, and ready for use by the pilots

A support ship (right) supplies the Eisenhower once a week, loading cargo along
cables stretched between the vessels... ... bringing aboard enough food to feed
5,000 people for seven days

Living on the ship can be a claustrophobic experience, but a daily
workout class in a hanger regularly attracts more than a hundred crew members

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