Posted on 06/02/2010 1:14:44 PM PDT by jhpigott
U.S. defense officials say they may deploy the massive aircraft carrier USS George Washington off the Korean Peninsula in the Yellow Sea, where North Korea allegedly sank a South Korean warship.
The deployment would be a show of force by the U.S., which has vowed to protect South Korea and is seeking to blunt aggression from North Korea. An international investigation last month blamed North Korea for torpedoing the Cheonan warship in March, killing 46 sailors.
U.S. officials, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, said Wednesday that a final decision on deployment of the nuclear-powered carrier was likely by the end of the week.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I think this article is making a story out of nothing.
George Washington will be taking apart in a joint US/ROK naval excercise that was due to happen anyway this summer but has been brought forward to next week after the sinking of the Cheonan to send a message of support blah blah blah...
Its a symbolic show of force that will last a few days and get media attention but does nothing to actually punish North Korea for the sinking of the Cheonan.
Right now, they don’t think they have to.
That will happen if and when the Obama Administration actually tries to do something.
You will see every country taking hostages. I bet they aren’t going to be nice to all of them, I wouldn’t be surprised to see (GASP) limbs tore off ect....
This is going to be nasty, because the US is the only one that really was enforcing the norms of civil discourse internationally among nations.
Lefties are going to get a hint at what the world would have been like without the US. That would have been a world of utter death and cruelty.
If I remember correctly, the Chinese have some pretty good exocet knock offs. They are not exactly helpless.
It’s usually a democrat who start most of the wars anyway.
There was a NavAir Pinglist ping not too many days ago, to a Chinese newspaper article (May 1 or thereabouts) in which Chinese topsiders delineated a Chinese-exclusive area of operations in WestPac. Might want to take a look at that. We could get a challenge, with the Chinese backing up their borrowed-knife puppets.
Did you see that article? It was the kind of stuff the Italian Fascists used to tell the British in the 30's, about the Med.
And don't forget the Kobe beef.
Not necessarily, it was more a general 'cold-war' thing. Back in the 70's the plan was to forward deploy two carriers - one to Japan and one to Greece - so you would always have one in the area and didn't have to deploy two from the States. At the time there were always two carriers in the far east and two in the Med. The Greek deployment never panned out, but the Japanese took the Asian one.
That is what I am worried about. Carriers make nice targets for submarines.
As a general rule, it is always a bad idea to brandish a weapon that you have no intention of using. Especially when the other guy knows you won’t use it.
I could be wrong, but don’t those joint US/ROK naval exercises usually take place in the Sea of Japan?
The Yellow Sea is where all the post Korean War naval skirmishes have taken place between the ROK and NORKs
If China were to sink a carrier, could we cut off all trade with them, despite them screaming that we owe them money? Or would we just drop hundreds of tons of bombs on them?
I should have added a “sarc” tag to that. I was aware of most of that (the Greece part was news to me, thanks for posting it.) It did seem like NK was our main reason for being there when I served on the USS Midway in the late seventies. Google “Operation Paul Bunyan”.
George Washington was in the Yellow Sea last October training with the ROK navy :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnavynvns/4019412309/
Remember, carriers don't go anywhere. Carrier Strike Group (CSG-5, in this case) go places, and that Strike Group always contains at least one fast-attack sub. The rickety old 50's ERA NORK subs wouldn't get close enough to even see a carrier, let alone fire on one.
Cut off all trade with the Chinese? Where would we get our replacement parts for our military equipment?
As soon as:
1) He receives the OK from China to do so
2) He realizes that Obama needs him to do so as a distraction, and hears it from Obama
3) He realizes that The Mouse That Roared scenario is his best bet, and that the US retaliatory strike would be followed by indefinite US financial aid to Pyongyang.
My guess is any time, but he could have an outbreak of mental health and not do it.
I forgot about Obama. The Mohammedans already have about 350,000,000 hostages.
Obama is a rookie and a p*ssy.
that said, it's a marginal increase in capability compared to what's already in the theater.
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