Had the Vinson been going through the same process when it deployed two weeks ago? I know little of the process. I was just alarmed when I noticed that we had only two at sea and none near the Persian Gulf three weeks ago. What’s the schedule for the Washington to deploy? Can you track the battle group being assembled in coordination with the scheduled deployment? Where is the Vinson headed? Was it scheduled for a normal deployment in that part of the Pacific?
The Vinson went through a full training cycle to prepare for her deployment. She spent about 6 weeks in port prior to departure and deployed on schedule. Publicly, the deployment is to the Indo-Pacific, which could be anywhere from the Western Pacific to the Red Sea. Unless world events require them elsewhere, it will probably be the North Arabian Sea/Persian Gulf area. The Ike will probably return to the Med and the Ford will return home. If the **** hits the fan (a real possibility), all bets are off.
The GW hasn’t started her pre-deployment training cycle, which takes about 6 months. They don’t currently have a scheduled deployment, at least not publicly. Force planners certainly have plans, and the crew likely knows to various levels of detail. She is scheduled to change home ports from Norfolk to Yokosuka next year. I suspect that is her next scheduled deployment.