© Daily Mail The giant nuclear powered USS Harry S Truman, carrying 90 aircraft and escorted by its five-strong strike group of destroyers and cruisers, is powering towards Europe and the Middle East A huge task force of 12 warships is setting sail for Syria in one of the biggest concentrations of US naval power since the 2003 Iraq invasion, it has emerged.



The giant nuclear powered USS Harry S Truman, carrying 90 aircraft and escorted by its five-strong strike group of destr oy ers and cruisers, is powering towards Europe and the Middle East.

A further four destroyers are believed to be in or near the Mediterranean already, including the Donald Cook, Porter, Carney and Laboon along with two nuclear-powered submarines, Georgia and John Warner.



It comes amid heightened tensions as Donald Trump continues to consider launching airstrikes on Syria in retaliation for a chemical gas attack in a rebel-held town on Saturday.

Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has reportedly moved his military assets to Russian bases in the country in the hope that the US and its allies would be reluctant to launch strikes anywhere near Vladimir Putin's forces. © Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Farragut (pictured) is among the ships accompanying the giant aircraft carrier The USS Harry S Truman and its support ships were due to leave Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia on Wednesday.



It is accompanied by the cruiser USS Normandy and destroyers USS Farragut, USS Forrest Sherman, USS Bulkeley and USS Arleigh Burke.

Also among the strike group's ships is the German frigate FGS Hessen, a state-of-the-art vessel specialising in air defense.

US Navy officials said the Hessen is the only type of ship in the Western world with three kinds of surface-to-air missiles. Its radar has a detection range of more than 200 nautical miles for air targets.

© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier

Nimitz-class

Weight: 116,000 tons Length: 1,092 ft Propulsion: Two Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors and four steam turbines Propellers: Four Speed: 35mph Range: Unlimited Ship's crew: 3,200 Air wing personnel: 2,480ft Aircraft carried: 90 fixed wing and helicopters Armament: Sea Sparrow, RIM-116 Missile and three Phalanx guns Strikes group: USS Normandy, USS Bulkeley, USS Arleigh Burke, USS Forrest Sherman, USS Farragut

© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited The USS Georgia, an Ohio-class submarine carrying guided missiles, is also said to be in the area Already in position is the USS Donald Cook, an American destroyer equipped with up to 60 Tomahawk land attack missiles.

In April last year Trump ordered 59 Tomahawk strikes on the Shayrat Airbase in response to a chemical weapons attack on rebel-held Khan Sheikhun.

These strikes were launched from two US warships stationed in the Mediterranean.

Trump and his national security aides on Thursday discussed US options on Syria, where he has threatened missile strikes in response to a poison gas attack, as a Russian envoy voiced fears of wider conflict between Washington and Moscow.



Worries about a confrontation between Russia, Syria's big ally , and the West have been running high since Trump said on Wednesday that missiles 'will be coming' in response to the attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7, and lambasted Moscow for standing by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited The 500ft USS Laboon destroyer (pictured), also armed is reported to be among US warships already deployed in the area. It is shown launching a Tomahawk cruise missile in an attack on southern Iraq in 1996 Trump tempered those remarks on Thursday and even as he consulted allies such and Britain and France, who could join in any US-led strikes on Syria, there were signs of efforts to prevent the crisis from spiraling out of control.

'Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!' Trump wrote on Twitter, raising the prospect that an attack might not be as imminent as he seemed to suggest the day before.



Trump met his national security team on the situation in Syria later in the day and 'no final decision has been made,' the White House said in a statement.

'We are continuing to assess intelligence and are engaged in conversations with our partners and allies,' it said.

That did not necessarily signal, however, that Trump was cooling to the idea of military action, especially given the high stakes in Syria. U.S. officials noted that Washington was still assessing intelligence and coordinating allies.

© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited The guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (pictured) is also steaming towards Europe and the Middle East Trump spoke to British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday and the two leaders talked about the 'need for a joint response to Syria's use of chemical weapons,' the White House said.



May's office said they agreed on the need to deter Assad's government from further such attacks.



Trump was also due to speak with French President Emmanuel Macron, who said France had proof the Syrian government carried out the attack near Damascus, which aid groups have said killed dozens of people, and will decide whether to strike back when all the necessary information has been gathered.



'We have proof that last week ... chemical weapons were used, at least with chlorine, and that they were used by the regime of Bashar al-Assad,' Macron said, without offering details of any evidence.

© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited Also in or near the Mediterranean is the USS Porter, pictured here launching a Tomahawk land attack missile in 2003 Two US officials familiar with an investigation of samples from Douma and the symptoms of victims said initial indications that a mix of weaponised chlorine gas and sarin were used in the attack appeared to be correct. But US intelligence agencies have not completed their assessment or reached a final conclusion, the officials said.



Russia, Syria and its other main backer, Iran, have said reports of the Douma attack were fabricated by rebels and rescue workers and have accused the United States of seeking to use it as a pretext to attack the Syrian government.

Russia said it deployed military police in Douma on Thursday after the town was taken over by government forces.

'They are the guarantors of law and order in the town,' RIA news agency quoted Russia's defense ministry as saying.

There were signs of a global effort to head off a direct confrontation between Russia and the West. The Kremlin said a crisis communications link with the United States, created to avoid an accidental clash over Syria, was in use.

America's USS Georgia submarine



Ohio-class submarine Length: 560 ft Propulsion: One S8G PWR nuclear reactor, two geared turbines, an auxiliary motor and a shaft at 60,000 shp Speed: 29mph Test depth: Greater than 800ft Crew: 155 Armament: Four torpedo tubes and 154 BGM-109 Tomahawks in 22 groups of seven

© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited The U.S. has maintained its threat of rocket attacks in response to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad's sickening chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma on Saturday Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow's ambassador to the United Nations, said he ' cannot exclude' war between the United States and Russia and urged Washington and its allies to refrain from military action against Syria.



'The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war,' he told reporters. 'We hope there will be no point of no return,' the envoy said.

A team of experts from the global chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, was traveling to Syria and will start its investigations on Saturday, the Netherlands-based agency said.

It was not clear whether Trump and U.S. allies would wait for the results of the investigation before deciding on a strike.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Congress he believed there was a chemical attack in Syria, but added a short while later that the United States had not made any decision to launch military action. He also suggested he was examining ways to prevent any strikes from triggering a broader conflict.

'I don't want to talk about a specific attack that is not yet in the offing ... This would be pre-decisional,' Mattis told the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee.

© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited Family members look on as the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman departs with its carrier strike group towards the Middle East from Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on April 11 Moscow is estimated to have dozens of aircraft at its Hmeymim air base in Syria including fighters and bombers, as well as 10 to 15 warships and support vessels in the Mediterranean.



The Syrian government and Russian forces in Syria possess truck-mounted surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery weapons systems.

Nervous world stock markets showed signs of recovery after Trump's signal that military strikes might not be imminent.

Britain's May won backing from her senior ministers to take unspecified action with the United States and France to deter further use of chemical weapons by Syria.

May had recalled the ministers from their Easter holiday for the meeting to discuss Britain's response to what she has cast as a barbaric attack that cannot go unchallenged.

Russian ships had left the Tartus naval base in Syria, Interfax news agency quoted a Russian lawmaker as saying. Vladimir Shamanov, who chairs the defense committee of the lower house, said the vessels had departed the base for their own safety, which was 'normal practice' when there were threats of attack.