Posted on 08/02/2004 12:27:41 PM PDT by jfreif
Edited on 08/02/2004 2:42:03 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
August 2, 2004 -- SEVEN American aircraft- car rier strike groups are plying the world's seven seas right now in one of the biggest military exercises since the end of the Cold War. Officially, it's the first test of the Navy's new strategy, the Fleet Response Plan (FRP). Unofficially, it puts America's potential foes on notice: The U.S. Army may be stretched pretty thin at the moment — but the U.S. Navy isn't.
It's a bold statement of U.S. power reminisent of one President Teddy Roosevelt sent in 1907 — the two-year global circumnavigation by the Great White Fleet.
Each carrier strike group (CSG) includes one carrier with 75 aircraft, 4 combat ships, a submarine, cruise missiles and 6,500 sailors. No other nation can put to sea — anywhere on earth — such an incredible display of military might.
With China holding its yearly war games off Taiwan, Iran cracking open U.N.-sealed nuclear facilities and North Korea's continued belligerent nuclear blustering, the exercise, Summer Pulse '04, couldn't come at a more important time.
This exercise is extraordinary. Rarely does the U.S. have more than two of its 12 carriers at sea at any one time. That's because American carriers operate on a two-year cycle — six months at sea, followed by 18 months in the shipyards in overhaul and in training for its next deployment.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
No. The Sea Wolf is a separate class. I believe that we only built 3 of them before the Navy canceled them. The Virginia's are supposed to be more affordable.
The carrier is preparing to surrender to the Hawkeye. ;-)
France has sent the nuclear-powered carrier Charles de Gaulle, with her attendant Carrier Battle Group, to the Arabian Sea. Photo: Marine Nationale.
That's quite a bow wake. Must be one heck of a tug pulling the ship. Too bad the picture couldn't have included the tug.
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