The Navy’s big guns are patrolling global hot spots, fighting ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and facing down North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in an annual exercise that invariably spikes tensions with the rogue regime.
The carrier George H.W. Bush and her escorts safely transited the Red Sea and the Bab-el-Mandeb strait March 13 and is expected to head to the Northern Persian Gulf to launch strikes on Islamic State group targets in Iraq and Syria, according to officials who spoke on background.
Bush recently broke off from strikes in the Eastern Mediterranean on ISIS targets early in March and passed through the Suez Canal March 10. The Bush is likely to play a key role in crushing ISIS resistance in Mosul as the noose tightens around its neck there.
Iraqi and coalition forces have driven and besieged ISIS in the oldest part of the city, where the historic mosque where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate in 2014, according to a Reuters report March 16.
The carrier Carl Vinson pulled into the South Korean port of Busan, and will participate in the annual Foal Eagle exercise with the country’s forces, which predictably has ratcheted up tensions with the North, which sees the exercise as a preparation for war.
Vinson is joined by her escort, the destroyer Wayne E. Meyer, which also participated in Vinson’s recent patrol of the South China Sea.
That patrol came after several months of no U.S. carrier presence in the hotly disputed body of water, and was the first carrier patrol during the new Trump administration. On the campaign trail Trump often targeted China’s policies as detrimental to U.S. workers and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had threatened to block China’s access to its man-made islands in the South China Sea during his confirmation hearing in January.
But after the heated rhetoric, Vinson’s patrol in the tense region was uneventful. Chinese ships shadowed Vinson during her patrol, which has become standard for U.S. ships in the region, but officials who spoke to Navy Times on background said the interactions with the Chinese fleet were all safe and professional.
But while tensions seem to be decreasing between China and the U.S. after becoming strained during the waning days of the Obama Administration, an even more dangerous and unstable situation has developed with North Korea.
The Kim regime has ramped up its missile program in recent days. On March 6, Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch of three ballistic missiles towards Japan, one of which crashed into the ocean fewer than 200 miles from the Japanese coast.
In the wake of this most recent launch, South Korean officials officially approved the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, which has been controversial in that country because both China and North Korea oppose it.
The situation with North Korea has become so tense its wavering on the edge of a full-blown crisis. Tillerson, the nation’s top diplomat, departed for a visit to the region March 15. Multiple news agencies have reported that President Trump sees North Korea as being his most pressing security challenge, and that further isolating the country is a key goal of Tillerson on his trip.
Vinson’s participation in Foal Eagle has also been seen as a message to North Korea. The tensions have run so high that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford openly spoke about the possibility that the North could launch an attack on U.S. and South Korean forces during the exercise in a statement released March 14.
In its March 15 release announcing the port visit to Busan, the Vinson stressed the routine nature of exercises with South Korea.
“The U.S. Navy routinely works with [Republic of Korea] forces to maintain interoperability and presence in the area,” the release said. “Exercises are conducted throughout the year including subject matter expert exchanges, anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare drills, communication drills, air defense exercises, counter-mine planning and distinguished visitor embarkations.”
The strike group’s head Rear Adm. James Kilby said the exercises were an invaluable training opportunity.
“The training opportunities we have in this region are world-class and allow us to build upon our strong alliance with the Republic of Korea,” said Rear Adm. James Kilby, commander, Carrier Strike Group 1. “For more than 60 years, the United States and Republic of Korea have operated side-by-side as partners and I couldn’t be more excited to further this relationship.”
