The aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush departed its homeport in Virginia on Tuesday to begin operations for its scheduled deployment, at a moment the Iran war has shown signs of escalation - even as the White House signals it's ready to find an offramp. The new carrier group could add a big further US force injection, assuming that's the purpose.

The Bush carrier just launched from Naval Station Norfolk, the Navy confirmed. The full George HW Bush Carrier Strike Group includes Carrier Air Wing 7 over 5,000 sailors and military personnel, and accompanying destroyers - the USS Ross, USS Donald Cook and USS Mason - which are expected to joint the Bush carrier as it transits the Atlantic Ocean.

At this point it is unclear whether its final destination will be related to the Iran theatre of operations, either on the eastern Mediterranean or in the Gulf region - but Rear Adm. Alexis Walker, commander of the strike group has said the group's "sailors are ready and able to do the nation’s bidding."

The carrier's scheduled area of operations is the US Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations, which does include the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The USS Abraham Lincoln is currently launching US warplane flights engaged in the bombing of Iran, and the USS Ford has been forced to return to port, now in Split, Croatia - after a large fire on board which resulted in injuries.

The US Navy has said the Ford's urgent repairs were for things which don't impact the vessel's combat systems.

Forbes details that "While in port on the Greek island, Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center personnel, including structural engineers, naval architects, and other subject matter experts, conducted an initial repair assessment, the U.S. Navy announced. In addition, military and federal civilian law enforcement continued investigations into a fire serious enough to require the ship to head to Split."

Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, has said: "They are probably mostly repairs to the laundry and surrounding berthing spaces, so laundry equipment, insulation, lighting, internal bulkheads, etc."

Earlier in the Iran war Pentagon officials acknowledged the fire but presented it as an 'accident' amid an ongoing investigation, despite Iran saying it attacked the carrier. Speculation has since grown over whether this is a Pentagon cover-up to conceal that it was successfully attacked by the Iranians, especially given the the damage appears worse than initially reported.