 The Navy decided to retire the F-14 with the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet filling the roles of fleet defense and strike formerly filled by the F-14.The last American F-14 combat mission was completed on 8 February 2006, when a pair of Tomcats landed aboard after one dropped a bomb over Iraq.During their final deployment with "Theodore Roosevelt", VF-31 and VF-213 collectively completed 1,163 combat sorties totaling 6,876 flight hours, and dropped of ordnance during reconnaissance, surveillance, and close air support missions in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.