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US Deploys Third Aircraft Carrier To Western Pacific Ahead Of Trump’s Visit
US Deploys Third Aircraft Carrier To Western Pacific Ahead Of Trump’s Visit
Ahead of Trump’s Asian tour, which in addition to a trip to Beijing also includes a visit to the Korean Peninsula and perhaps a surprise visit to the DMZ, the US navy is bringing out the big guns, and has deployed a third nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Nimitz-class USS Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group which on October 23, to the Western Pacific Ocean amid increasing tensions between the U.S. and North Korea the US Navy announced in a statement.
On Monday, the carrier strike group entered the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet area, which is the Navy’s biggest forward-deployed fleet, with its area of operations stretching from the International Date Line to the India-Pakistan border, and from the Kuril Islands in the north to the Antarctic in the south.
The USS Roosevelt strike group has arrived in the west Pacific
The 100,000-ton warship and its strike group joins two other carriers located in the 7th Fleet area amid fears of war with North Korea: in addition, the U.S. Navy announced that the USS Nimitz strike group consisting of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Howard, USS Shoup, USS Pinckney, USS Kidd, and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton returned to the 7th Fleet area of operations on October 25 following a deployment to the Persian Gulf.
While it is unclear if the final rendezvous of the three ships is North Korea, it is still largely unprecedented to allocate three aircraft carriers in the region at one time, and is a huge gathering of US sea power according to naval experts. Ultimately, the USS Theodore Roosevelt is expected to make its way to the Persian Gulf to replace the USS Nimitz. The U.S. Navy has not announced any specific missions for the two carriers.
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Trump Sends Second Aircraft Carrier To Korean Peninsula With 7,500 Marines Aboard
Trump Sends Second Aircraft Carrier To Korean Peninsula With 7,500 Marines Aboard
Just one week after uttering his now-infamous “this is the calm before the storm” statement to the press ahead of a dinner with military leaders, we now learn that President Trump has dispatched a second nuclear aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, filled with 7,500 marines, to the Korean Peninsula. Of course, this comes after rumors swirled earlier this week that North Korea is preparing to fire multiple short-range rockets around the opening of the Chinese Communist Party’s twice-a-decade congress on Oct. 18th.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, is en route to the western Pacific after leaving San Diego port last week.
The Roosevelt will focus on maritime security operations in the Pacific and Middle East, the US military announced.
But the £3.4billion ($4.5billion) warship, known as “the Big Stick”, has been sent to boost US defence on the Korean peninsula, according to South Korean media.
It is expected to arrive in region in the coming weeks amid fears North Korea is about to test another missile or nuclear weapon.
Per the following map from Stratfor, the USS Theodore Roosevelt will join the USS Ronald Reagan which is already operating in the region.
“The US Navy carrier strike group is the most versatile, capable force at sea,” he said in a statement before the ship’s launch.
“After nearly a year of training and integration exercises, the entire team is ready as a warfighting force and ready to carry out the nation’s tasking.”
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US Deploys Third Aircraft Carrier Toward North Korea
US Deploys Third Aircraft Carrier Toward North Korea
One month ago, when we first discussed that in addition to the CVN-70 Carl Vinson aircraft carrier group, the US was deploying two more carriers toward the Korean peninsula, some took the Yonhap-sourced report skeptically: after all, what’s the incremental symbolic impact of having three, or even two aircraft carriers next to North Korea when just one would more than suffice. Then, two weeks ago, the report was proven half right when US officials announced that in addition to the first US carrier already on location, the US Navy is moving the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier to the Korean Peninsula, where it would conduct dual-carrier training exercises with the USS Carl Vinson.
Aircraft carrier CVN-76 Ronald Reagan
After completing its maintenance period in Yokosuka, Japan, the USS Ronald Reagan departed for the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday, according to the Navy. “Coming out of a long in-port maintenance period we have to ensure that Ronald Reagan and the remainder of the strike group are integrated properly as we move forward,” Rear Adm. Charles Williams said in a press release. Once it arrives in the region, the carrier will conduct a variety of training exercises but primarily focus on certifying its ability to safely launch and recover aircraft, the service said. In other words, training for combat missions involved the North Korean capital.
We concluded our report from mid-May by saying that the US Navy may soon “further deploy the CVN-68 Nimitz, which was the third carrier reported to be eventually making its way toward Korea.”
We didn’t have long to wait, because on Friday the Kitsap Sun confirmed what we reported initially over a month ago, namely that the USS Nimitz will depart Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton on Thursday on its first deployment since 2013.
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Russia Deploys Flagship Aircraft Carrier To Syria Coast
Russia Deploys Flagship Aircraft Carrier To Syria Coast
Back in the summer of 2013, just around the peak of the first major escalation involving Syria and the US attempt to remove its president al-Assad, the Mediterranean briefly looked like a parking lot, with US and Russian ships on anchor just off the Syrian coast prepared for any eventuality.
Then, last year, around the time Russia announced it would deploy its air force to Syria for the first time, we predicted that sooner or later, the naval phase of the Syrian conflict would ratner and lead to a repeat of the events from the summer of 2013. So, one year later, precisely this sequence of events now appears to be in place: earlier today, Russia’s defence minister said Wednesday that Moscow was dispatching its flagship aircraft carrier to bolster its forces in the eastern Mediterranean off Syria.
The Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier would be sent to join Russia’s current naval deployment there, minister Sergei Shoigu said during a televised meeting.
“At the moment the Russian task force in the Eastern Mediterranean consists of no fewer than six combat ships and three or four logistic ships from all fleets” the minister said adding that “to build up the group’s combat capabilities we plan to reinforce it with an Admiral Kuznetsov-led group,” Shoigu told a meeting of the Defense Ministry’s board. He added that the Russian Navy has been permanently present in the Eastern Mediterranean since 2013.
While Russia has been flying a bombing campaign in Syria for the past year in support of Bashar al-Assad and has deployed a naval contingent to back up its operation, this is the first time that the Soviet-era Kuznetsov – Russia’s only aircraft carrier that is part of its Northern fleet based in Murmansk – will join the Russian deployment after undergoing a refurbishment.
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France Deploys Its Only Aircraft Carrier To Fight ISIS
France Deploys Its Only Aircraft Carrier To Fight ISIS
In mid-October, just as Russian presence in Syria was ramping up and Putin unviled the creation of Russia’s first air base in the region based in the Bassel al Assad air base (from where it could easily reach as far as the Suez Canal), we reported that in a previously disclosed move, the US would do something it has almost never done before: leave the Persian Gulf, and the US Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain, with a “gap” in U.S. aircraft carrier support in a region that has traditionally been rather volatile.
Previously we wrote that while in 5th Fleet, the CVN-71 USS Theodore Roosevelt was the largest symbol in the U.S.-led anti-ISIS collation responsible for “1,812 combat sorties totaling 10,618 combat flight hours, taking on 14.5 million gallons of jet fuel and expending 1,085 precision-guided munitions,” as part of Operation Inherent Resolve.” It has
We concluded by saying that whatever the reason behind the US naval “gap” may be, one thing is clear: the departure of the Roosevelt comes at a particularly awkward time – just as Russia is setting up its own aicraft base in Syria.
We may have been too early.
As Reuters reported earlier today, just as one US carrier was leaving the middle east, another widely feared and respected geopolitical superpower was set to replace US carrier presence in the Middle East in the ongoing war against “ISIS” – France.
Earlier today, in a statement by the French presidency following a meeting of its defence cabinet, the government said it would send its only aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle warship, to the eastern Mediterranean for operations against Isis in both Syria and Iraq.
According to the Independent, “the deployment of the battle group alongside the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier has been decided to participate in operations against Daesch and its affiliate groups,” the statement said after a defense cabinet meeting, referring to the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
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Russia Sends Its Only Aircraft Carrier To Syria, Signals It Is Just Getting Started
Russia Sends Its Only Aircraft Carrier To Syria, Signals It Is Just Getting Started
As should be abundantly clear by now, The Kremlin is adopting a “slightly” different strategy when it comes to combatting terror in the Mid-East than that adopted by the US and its Western and regional allies.
The strategy of the US and its allies seems to go something like this: 1) covertly arm and train groups who you know might ultimately become terrorists because arming and training these groups may be a way to destabilize unfriendly regimes, 2) wait for blowback, 3) launch serious effort to combat terror if unfriendly regime has been “successfully” replaced by puppet government, or launch half-hearted effort to combat terror if situation still fluid and regime still clings to power.
Obviously, that strategy is prone to all types of problems, and sensing that the US and its allies might have finally met their foreign policy blunder Waterloo in Syria, Russia decided to call everyone’s bluff by launching a real war on terror. Of course, this war conveniently restores the regime of one of Moscow’s allies, but in the end the result is the same: anyone who is a terrorist and who is also fighting Assad in Syria is in for big trouble because Russia is using this is as an opportunity to reassert itself on the world stage and also to fire up a long-dormant military juggernaut.
Now, on the heels of hundreds of airstrikes accompanied by dramatic video footage as well as cruise missile attacks launched from Russian warships in the Caspian, The Kremlin is sending its lone heavy aircraft carrier into the fight. This is only the ship’s sixth deployment in history.
Here’s more from Flashnord (Google translated):
Heavy aircraft carrier (heavy aircraft), “Admiral Kuznetsov” is Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the weekend will go from Murmansk to the shores of Syria, said FlashNord source in the Northern Fleet command.
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