San Diego-based ships and sailors attached to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson's strike group are scheduled to leave for deployment next week, the Navy announced Thursday.
The departures are scheduled for next Thursday and Friday. Heading out to sea will be the Carl Vinson, cruiser USS Lake Champlain and destroyer Wayne E. Meyer.
The Hawaii-based destroyer Michael Murphy will join them later.
In all, the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group will be encompass 7,500 sailors and airmen attached to various squadrons under Carrier Air Wing 2.
The Navy said the strike group will focus on maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts, conducting exercises with partner nations in the western Pacific and Indian oceans.
The Vinson, named after a Georgian who served in Congress for more than 50 years, is best known as the vessel that received the body of Osama bin Laden after he was killed in 2011.
During its last deployment, a website believed to be friendly to the Islamic State published the names of 100 military personnel who took part in strikes against the terrorist organization, four of whom were serving on the Vinson.
The aircraft carrier ended that deployment in June of last year.
The Lake Champlain honors a decisive naval battle in the War of 1812. The Wayne E. Mayer is named for an admiral considered to be the father of the Aegis air defense system used by naval vessels.
