VIDEO: Navy Pilots Flying Dozens of Daily Russian Deterrence Missions from USS Harry S. Truman -...

For the longest stretch in decades, the Mediterranean Sea has played host to the deafening roar of U.S. carrier aircraft launching into Europe.

Since December, the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, Carrier Air Wing 1 and its escorts have been operating in the Adriatic and Ionian seas launching 80 to 90 sorties a day as far north as Lithuania for a variety of missions with NATO-allied aircraft from Romania, France and Italy. Some fighters launched from Truman are training, while some are set to police NATO’s airspace and prevent Russian aircraft from violating those borders.

“And so we’re here to deter,” Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro told reporters aboard Truman. “We’re here to work together, as members of NATO together, to protect each other, and to care, to provide as much support to the Ukrainian people [and] to the Ukrainian government.”