Bush and Gerald R. Ford, the service's newest supercarrier, the British Royal Navy's HMS Queen Elizabeth, France's Charles De Gaulle, and Italy's ITS Cavour.When the ship deployed, Rear Adm. Gregory Huffman, commander of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, said that the "deployment is an opportunity to push the ball further down the field and demonstrate the advantage that Ford and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 bring to the future of naval aviation, to the region and to our allies and partners."The Navy said in a Thursday statement on the carrier operations that each country has its own mission objectives and that it is not uncommon for multiple carrier strike groups to be deployed at the same time since NATO countries maintain a continued presence in waters around Europe."NATO routinely demonstrates its cohesion, coordinating with multiple international maritime assets at once," commander of the NATO Allied Maritime Command Vice Admiral Keith Blount said in the Navy's statement.The incident triggered an alarmed response from some members of the military alliance and also from top Ukrainian officials who blamed the blast on Russia despite indications it may have been unintentionally caused by a Ukrainian surface-to-air missile amid a Russian barrage of Ukraine's cities."