Posted on 04/02/2007 7:09:28 PM PDT by Sleeping Beauty
SAN DIEGO – Amid rising tension with Iran, the aircraft carrier Nimitz and several other American warships will leave San Diego Monday for the Persian Gulf to join another locally based aircraft carrier strike group already in the region, military officials said. The Nimitz will join the San Diego-based John C. Stennis Strike Group and relieve the Dwight D. Eisenhower, according to Naval Air Forces Public Affairs.
Military officials said in a statement that the two-carrier presence in the Persian Gulf area is intended to demonstrate U.S. “resolve to build regional security and bring long-term stability to the region.”
The Nimitz's departure comes amid heightened tensions in the region following the detention of 15 British sailors and marines by Iran last week. Iran maintains the detainees were operating in its territorial waters, a charge the British government denies.
President Bush ratcheted up the rhetoric over the incident last week, calling the detainees “hostages” – a term not even the British had used.
The tension over the detainees coincides with international pressure on Iran to give up its uranium enrichment program, which it maintains is strictly for peaceful purposes. The United States and other nations fear Iran is working toward the development of nuclear weapons.
The Nimitz will support the war on terrorism, patrol the Horn of Africa and conduct marine security operations as part of the larger effort to “deter and dissuade others from acting counter to U.S. national interests,” according to a Navy statement.
The Nimitz Strike Group comprises the guided-missile cruiser Princeton, guided-missile destroyers Higgins, Chafee, John Paul Jones and Pinckney, two helicopter squadrons and an explosive ordnance disposal unit.
The Stennis and its strike group left Naval Base Coronado on Jan. 20. It is the largest carrier presence in the Persian Gulf since the start of the war in Iraq.
Ah. Remember watching a carrier battle group steam out of the Golden Gate while having dinner in Sausilito. What a sight.
Sorry but I can’t support a draft. You don’t defend freedom by enslaving our citizens.
One Tico and a bunch of Arleigh Burke’s. All of which can carry Tomahawks. Hmmmm....
If even half their cells are carrying Tomahawks, that’s 240 cruise missiles in the arsenal.
Could get very interesting ............. FRegards
That's the announced plan... but plans change.
This all sounds like Iran will soon be gasoline free.
The need to leave the oil pumps and distribution system in place, but with Iran only having ONE gasoline refinery, it wouldn’t be hard to make the chief mode of Iranian transportation donkeys.
OHH that pretty sight seeing USS Nimtitz going to GULF or any nuke Bajo boy from Iran smack chat US and Israel
‘Nother one about the Nimitz
I’d forgotten about the French carrier.
It’s so easy to, you know.....
(thanks)
Sure!
It would be reinstated, if the need existed.
The need will have to be more than terrorism. It would be a wide scale war against a State or States where hundreds of thousands of troops may be needed.
it will happen, if the need becomes a reality. needing a few thousand, is not enough to trigger the draft. they have many ways of increasing the number of volunteers by using the resources of the Fed.
Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium volume pinglist.
Yes, three carriers (2 US and one French) are already there. Nimitz will make four.
And this time, there will be no question about Europe pulling away from us, etc. The Iranians took British hostages, the French are already there, and Chirac is swiftly approaching the end of his Presidency, and has nothing to lose by taking on the Iranian problem (remember: Iranian-supported groups are keeping the Syrians in Lebanon, and the French don’t like that).
So, this time if it happens, it will be a Western operation. Russia won’t like it, but they’ll be isolated without Europe to help. And China...well, China’s economy is dependent on that oil coming through the Straits of Hormuz, so if things go South there for a bit, the Chinese are going to take a nasty blow.
Roger on the effect on China. The economic impact worldwide will dictate events in the Middle-East for the forseeable future.
My read on it includes Russia as one of the good-guys too. They're steadily becoming a capitalist society, and, like China, a Nuclear-armed Iran is bad for business (A Nuke N. Korea's bad too!).
And both China and Russia have had bad experiences with the evil that is islam. I think they'll both be in on the kill when the end-time for islam begins. It's just good for business! Stay well and safe ................ FRegards
Thanks. I was wondering about that all day. Long way from San Diego to those parts of the world....
Nobody knows except the Navy brass. Remember, the USS Reagan is on a port call in South Korea. Not that far away from where these others will be.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1810795/posts
Roger that, sir . Stand by while I bump your very important thread.
Thanks. His request was for some beef jerky. I’m going to buy a bunch of it tomorrow. Candy melts out there.
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