The USS Theodore Roosevelt, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier and flagship of Carrier Strike Group 9, departed San Diego on Sunday bound for the Middle East, where it will relieve the Japan-based USS George Washington, according to the ship-tracking outfit WarshipCam. The Navy, presumably busy, did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment.

The George Washington was itself dispatched to the U.S. Central Command region last month as a replacement for the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose deployment drew criticism from Democratic lawmakers and sailors' families over rough onboard conditions and worsening mental health. So the Roosevelt is now relieving a relief carrier, which is either a testament to American naval readiness or a sign that the fleet is running on fumes and vibes.

The deployment comes as the U.S. works to keep oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz and continues enforcing a naval blockade in the Arabian Sea. Since July, U.S. forces have redirected 122 commercial vessels to ensure compliance, Centcom said Friday. More than one billion barrels of oil have passed through the key waterway over the past few months, according to U.S. military officials.

The U.S. has maintained at least one aircraft carrier in the Centcom region since President Trump kickstarted the war with Iran in late February. The other carrier currently in the Middle East is the USS George H.W. Bush.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle acknowledged last month that the pace has taken a toll. "We've been in conflict pretty much the whole time I've been in the seat, and that's certainly stressed the force," he told reporters, adding that he's working with his chain of command to make the extension process more predictable. "If we know we're going into harm's way, we should be able to project with a little bit more fidelity how long the carrier and the strike group is going to stay on station."

He continued: "We do these extensions in little chunks, and the families don't see any endpoint so they can plan their own lives. That creates a lot of stress for sailors." Which is a diplomatic way of saying that when the Pentagon plays deployment roulette, the people actually on the ships are the ones who lose.