Posted on 04/09/2003 12:02:45 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Lone U.S. Carrier Group Watches N. Korea
By ERIC TALMADGE .c The Associated Press
ABOARD THE USS CARL VINSON (AP) - Corp. Douglas Mesnan and dozens of others sat riveted as the mess hall television carried reports that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein might have been killed.
``If it's true, I'm happy,'' Mesnan, of Highland, Ind., said Tuesday. ``But being a Marine, I feel like I should be over there with the other Marines.''
Mesnan is stationed on an aircraft carrier thousands of miles from home, but television reports are the only way he's keeping up with the war in Iraq. He's one of 5,200 sailors and Marines in a lone aircraft carrier battle group patrolling the western Pacific amid heightening tensions with communist North Korea.
Being so far away from the war is frustrating for many soldiers.
``I love the Navy. I've been in for 14 years. But every time something happens, I've missed it,'' said Martin Griffin, a dental assistant from Vidor, Texas. ``I know our job here is important, but I would much rather be contributing over there.''
The Carl Vinson, based in Bremerton, Wash., was deployed to the western Pacific in February to fill in for the Kitty Hawk, which has joined coalition forces in the war against Iraq. Officials refuse to comment on its current location, other than to say that it is near the southern Japan island of Okinawa.
``It's like being on a football team and you never get to play,'' said Lt. Aaron Parks, of Raymore, Missouri, an F/A-18 ``Hornet'' fighter pilot. ``I think a lot of people feel that way.''
Never is an overstatement - Parks was among the first to fly combat missions over Afghanistan in October 2001, when the Carl Vinson launched some of the first strikes and completed 111 days of continuous operations.
But this time the carrier has a very different role.
Maintaining a high profile in the Pacific has long been a priority for the Navy. With tensions high over North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons and increasingly hostile stance toward Washington, that presence has become more crucial.
The 7th Fleet, which has its home port just south of Tokyo, is the largest forward-deployed fleet in the Navy, with 40 to 50 ships, 200 or so aircraft and 20,000 sailors and Marines under its command. The United States has 37,000 troops stationed in South Korea and roughly 50,000 in Japan.
Increasing tensions with North Korea have led Washington to beef up the presence. On March 2, four North Korean MiG fighters intercepted an American surveillance flight operating in international airspace off the Korean coast. Less than two weeks later, 12 B-52 bombers and 12 B-1 bombers were deployed to the island of Guam, within striking range of North Korea.
At about the same time, the United States and South Korea began their annual ``Foal Eagle'' exercises. The Carl Vinson and its battle group took part in the maneuvers, which ended last week.
Though it is not unusual for a carrier to join the exercises, Foal Eagle included a wing of radar-evading stealth fighters for the first time in a decade. North Korea slammed the exercises as a rehearsal for an invasion.
Officers aboard the Carl Vinson say they are not here to provoke North Korea.
``The fact that we are here certainly speaks a lot to the importance of keeping the stability in the region,'' said Rear Admiral Evan M. Chanik, commander of the Carl Vinson and four other ships in its battle group.
But he added; ``Our presence is nothing out of the ordinary.''
CLASS - NIMITZ
Displacement 91,300 Tons, Dimensions, 1088' (oa) x 134' x 37' 8" (Max) Armament 3 Sea Sparrow-SAM, Starting with CVN-70 4 20mm CIWS, 90 Aircraft. Armor, Unknown. Machinery, 260,000 SHP; 2 Westinghouse (A4W) Reactors Driving Geared Turbines, 4 screws Speed, 35+ Knots, Crew 5617.
NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive Here.
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