USS Carl Vinson.... Help needed by any member!

reply to post by schuyler


Is that a significant change? Any chance the other orders were all misdirection and the OPs original concern is still valid?

reply to post by UmbraSumus


Might have family on board friend.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by schuyler

 

Is that a significant change? Any chance the other orders were all misdirection and the OPs original concern is still valid?

Of course I'm never 100% certain on this stuff, but my impression is that this is a normal deployment. The Navy never says a lot about deployments, but they do say a little, and so far, at least, they have been completely consistent. They may stop at Guam, a large Navy base for us and a logical place to grab more supplies. It will be interesting to see what route they take to the Indian Ocean.

We know the Lincoln is scheduled to return this "Spring" (a 3 month window, of course) so the Vinson is a logical replacement. On the other hand, a couple of other carriers are ready for deployment, so there's plenty of time for an east coast carrier to replace the Lincoln as well. The Lincoln will return to Everett, Washington for a short time before moving to the East Coast for nuclear refueling, which will make it unavailable for several years.

I think the best explanation for the OP came from you, I think. A sailor wanted some "extra kisses" (to put it in family channel terms) and that's the origin of the story. Right now it's kind of a waiting game.

Well, we have a bit of movement here this week. The USS Enterprise is half way across the Atlantic headed for the mediterannean and is said to be deployed in the 5th and 6th AOR. This may be the replacement for the Lincoln. If it heads for the Suez Canal we'll know. But at the same time the Vinson, our ship of interest, is now in the South China Sea just north of Malaysia on a course that looks like it may enter the Indian Ocean and ALSO be on its way to the 5th AOR. It's a toss up which of these two Carrier Strike Groups will replace the Lincoln. Maybe both will. It will take a couple more weeks to know for sure.

The Stennis and the Reagan are off the shores of the US "preparing for deployment." All other carriers and all but two of the amphibious strike groups are in port.

Our ship of interest, the Carl Vinson, just made a port visit in Malaysia. It is in the Java Sea, just north of Australia, soaking up some summer sun while we deal with snow drifts. It will be interesting to see whether she turns East or West next week. Still, no wars have been started.

This is actually an interesting "keep our options open" position for the ship. It's location is perfect for sending it to the Arabian Gulf within a few days. On another thread there was some speculation that "fleets" (plural) were headed for Lebanon, though no one can figure out which fleets they are. The Enterprise is headed for the Mediterranean and is my candidate for the Lincoln relief, BUT if there is some truth to the Lebanon rumors, then the Vinson could easily serve that role to free up the Enterprise.

Well, well, well, guess what? The USS Carl Vinson is in the Arabian Gulf in the same general area as the Lincoln. My guess is the Lincoln will stay a couple more weeks before sailing home to Everett leaving the Vinson as the carrier on station in the 5th fleet AOR.

the Enterprise just stopped off at Lisbon before entering the Mediterannean. It might head on over the Egypt, and it might travel down the Suez to join the Vinson. It'll take a couple of weeks to sort this part out.

As has been in the news, the USS Kearsarge has moved from the Arabian Gulf to the Red Sea on the east coast of Egypt as a "precautionary measure." Bear in mind that they are short staffed sinceover 1,000 Marines have been sent to Afghanistan, so anyone who maintains this is an "Invasion force" is flat out crazy.

Both the Lincoln and our friend, the USS Carl Vinson, remain on station in the Arabian Gulf. The Enterprise, now off Turkey, was to have gone down the Suez to join the other two CVNs in the Arabian Gulf, but the Egyptian situation may mean it will stay in the Med for now. The interesting thing to see will be if the Lincoln now heads home. That would be a good sign as three carriers sitting off Egypt is not really a good thing.

We have four carriers and two amphibious groups off-shore in the US this week. These are "preparing for deployment" or involved in "exercises." This may be a notable development. They could "surge" at any time. The only other development of note is the Amphibious Group Essex is now off Thailand doing joint exercises with several Asian nations. This was scheduled, but it also puts the Essex within distance of the Arabian Gulf. We only have one Amphibious group there right now and of we need another quickley, the Essex would be the one.

reply to post by schuyler


I just ran across this thread today and enjoyed it thuroughly. Great job with the play by play, keep it up.Nothing like spite to give you a hobby.

Those that have not served or worked for the US military think everything is a big secret. Its not the obivious things that leak secrets, like there is a base in Germany called Ramstein AFB, or even which planes or resources are there. It only starts to get sticky when you point out a particular facilities.

Guess what? Heres a secret. NAS/JRB in New Orleans has two F-15 fully loaded on alert right now as we speek.


Wait, thats not a secret:
themilitaryzone.com...

Lots of activity this week. 112 of 286 ships are deployed. On the CVN front the Enterprise Strike Group is going through the Suez Canal on its way to the Arabian Gulf and the Lincoln, which had been there for months is now in Singapore! THAT was fast. The Kearsarge, which had been moved up to the Red Sea on account of the Egyptian issue, is now moving back to the Arabian Gulf as well. That means we're back down to two carriers plus the Kearsarge in the Middle East. That's a good thing and shows the US is convinced tensions aren't so high that we need a higher profile presence there. We're down to "Yellow Alert" rarther than the "red Alert" status we had for the last couple of weeks.

We have four carriers, two on each coast, conducting preparations for upcoming deployments. The Bush may be on one, but it's still too close to Norfolk to know for sure.

Note: the Kearsarge is actually a 'baby' carrier about a third of the size of a CVN, It supports a number of helicopters and Harrier (VTOL) jets, but is nowhere large enough to handle the larger F/A aircraft such as the F-18 Super Hornet. In addition, whenever we talk about an individual carrier, we are actually talking about a Strike Group, which is composed of about ten ships in support roles to the carrier. There may be other ships that join or leave the Strike Group during its deployment, so the actual number varies from week to week.

Click here for more information.

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Darn! I didn't get to read the two posts by our help-seeking OP because they were removed before I got to them. I guess that means he's still angry at me for telling him the truth. The Carl Vinson is now where I said it was going originally. Most deployments are about five months long, so the Vinson will probably stay on station in the Arabian Gulf for two or three months. There are two things which might modify this.

The first is the Enterprise, which is itself entering the Gulf area as a second carrier only a few days, really, after the Vinson arrived. That lends some flexibility, meaning the Vinson could leave any time. The real question here is if the US has moved to a permanent "two carrier policy" or whether we will return to the "one carrier policy" we've had in place, except for times of conflict, for two decades.

The second issue is that several carriers off the US coast are "preparing for a coming deployment," according to the Navy. That begs the question of why and where. If Korea heats up again, you can bet one of the west coast carriers will go there to join the Washington, which is already "forward deployed" nearby, but it won't be the Vinson. I would think that would be a good thing for all the families of sailors on the Vinson, so I really don't understand why the OP here is still upset. I would think he would be celebrating his granddaughter's good fortune.

And it's our weekly update on the US Navy ship deployments. The Lincoln, which left the Arabian Gulf a couple of weeks ago is now north of Australia. It made a stop in Brunei and is now in the South China Sea.

Enterprise made it through the Suez Canal and is now in the Indian Ocean accompanying CVN 70, our and the OP's friend, the Carl Vinson. The Kearsarge is moving up and down the Red Sea staying pretty close to Egypt.

There is a rumor that the USS George Washington, home ported in Japan, has deployed to the Gulf of Aden. US Central Command has denied this and, indeed, it makes little sense since we have two carriers in that immediate area already.

Most deployments to the Arabian Gulf have the carrier stay on station for a little over two months. so with out and back time they are about five months long. Although it is not impossible for them to re-supply at a foreign port, they usually do not. Supplies are furnished by a Fast Combat Support Ship, which is full of all sorts of supplies and can resupply any of the other ships with huge cranes that deploy sidewys while the ships are cruising side by side. They carry everything from ammunition to Diet Coke. They are deep-draft ships and every Captain of a carrier is required to be captain of a deep draft ship before he can command a carrier. But they run out of supplies, and five months is about theor limit.

So if I had to guess when the Vinson would return to San Diego, I'd say about June.

Lots of activity this week. As you may know from other threads, both the Kearsarge and the Enterprise are headed up the Suez to join forces off the coast of Libya. The USS Boxer is in Hawaii and will likely head to the Arabian Gulf to replace the Kearsarge, which is at the end of its deployment anyway. The Ronald Reagan is off the west coast of the US and preparing for deployment, once again, to the Arabian Gulf to replace the Enterprise, which was only on station for a couple of weeks before it was pulled back to the Mediterranean.

And the Vinson continues to float around in the Arabian Gulf where it will likely stay until the end of its deployment, when it will mosey on back home to San Diego, without having caused any secret wars or encountered any suicide missions for young sailors stuck in the galleys for the entire cruise.

This week the Carl Vinson is still on station in the Arabian Gulf where it will likely stay until the end of its deployment. I did find out that the John Stennis, which just arrived in its home port of Bremerton a couple of days ago, is preparing for a scheduled deployment starting this summer and lasting until 2012. This ship willl likely replace the Vinson, though there may be an intermediary ship there, too. remember that the CNO has declared the Arabian Gulf a "1.7" carrier activity, meaning that 9 months out of the year there will be two carriers there.

This kind of begs the question as the Enterprise is still sitting in the Red Sea and has NOT traversed the Suez to enter the Med. Further, although the Kearsarge is there, no other ship is underway to get there. There was speculation that the Bush would deploy, but it has not. The Lincoln is on its way home and the only other carrier deployed is the Reagan, which is headed for South Korea.

Your US Navy is on the move, but not in the Med and the Vinson remains running in place in the Arabian Gulf. the Enterprise is still stuck in the Red Sea. Nothing has changed in that part of the world since last week.

The Pacific has changed as Operation Tomodachi gets underway to help after the Japanse Earthquake/Tsunami. First, the USS Roonald Reagan and its strike group changed course and is headed fro northern Japan. Some of the ships accompanying it are the USS Chancellorsville (CG 62), guided-missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG 88) and combat support ship USNS Bridge (T-AOE 10). Usually about ten ships accompany a CVN carrier in a Strike Group, but these are the ships I was able to confirm. The USS Bridge is a supply ship and could be instrumental in relief efforts. A CVN has two hospitals and can provide electrical power to shore. The Strike Group has quite a few helicopters on board as well.

The USS Essex Ampibious Ready Group also off the west coast of Japan conducting humanitarian operations. The Essex is itself a small carrier and the group also includes the dock landing ships USS Harpers Ferry ('___' 49), USS Germantown ('___' 42) and USS Tortuga ('___' 46). The USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19), which is the flagship of the 7th fleet, loaded humanitarian supplies in Singapore before jeading to the disaster zone.

Other ships that we know about include the USS John S. McCain (DDG 56), Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Matthew Perry (T-AKE 9), and the guided-missile destroyers USS McCampbell (DDG 85), USS Mustin (DDG 89), USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) and USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54). These DDGs are Arleigh-Burke ckass destroyers. I don;t know if these are the specific DDGs assigned to the Reagan or if they are additional ships. Usually the destroyers ravel in squadrons of four or five and can be separate from a Carroer Strike Group.

I'm a little surprised that the USS George Washington, which is headquartered in Japan, has not moved up the coast as well. It is in Yokosuka along with two cruisers and seven destroyers.

There is another ATS thread here where the OP claims a relative has been quarantined with radiation sickness aboard the USS Roosevelt, which has turned out not to be true because the Roosevelt is on the East Coast. However, the OP keeps changing his story. the thread is now closed pending ATS Review.

The Navy Times reports:

More resources are on the way. The dock landing ship Tortuga is in Tomokomai, a city in Hokkaido, a large island in northern Japan, where it is taking on 300 members of the Japan Ground Self Defense Force and 90 vehicles. They will be transported to Ominato in northern Honshu. The Tortuga is also equipped with two MH-53 Sea Dragon helicopters. Each aircraft is capable of carrying 55 personnel or 32,000 pounds apiece.

The amphibious ships Essex, Harpers Ferry and Germantown are en route to Honshu and are expected to arrive Wednesday to provide humanitarian aid.

Sailors and aircrews are being monitored for radioactive contamination. On Monday, the Navy said that 17 Reagan helicopter crew members were contaminated with radioactive material while on a mission and were treated with soap and water; some were given potassium iodide pills

This corroborates what I said at the top of this post. I could find no instances of sailors being quarntined or exposed to severe radiation.

Thanks for the conctant updating. It's been a treat.
It will be interesting to see if something moves into the Med. With all the talk about a no fly zone in Libya I would suspect a carrier group would play a part.

Just a bit happening on the Carrier front this week.

1. The USS George Washington has pulled out of Japan along with at least one support ship and with shipyard workers on board to avoid potential radiation.

2. The USS Ronald Reagan remains on station in Northern Japan to assist in relief efforts.

3. Showing the US commitment to the Libya No-Fly zone the UISS Enterprise has been moved out of the Red Sea and into the Arabian Gulf next to the USS Carl Vinson, which remains there as well.

4. The USS Bataan, LHD-5, has left Norfolk and is headed to the Med where the Kersarge is already on station. The Bataan is another Amphibious Ready Group like the Kearsarge.

5. The only full-sized aircraft carrier in the Med is the Charles deGaulle. The Italian carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi (C 551) is also in the area. Several ships from Great Britain and France are also omn station.

6. The USS Lincoln is back in poert this week in Everett, Washington after several months at sea.

7. EDIT. Just found out the Stennis is leaving Bremerton tomorrow to head to California to qualify pilots. This should be a short two-week jaunt.

reply to post by schuyler


I as well appreciate the work you do. If I had read this post all the way through I wouldn't have started my last thread. Keep the updates comming as they may point to whats really going on in the ME. Star for you!!

This week the LHD-4 Boxer, an Amphibious Ready Group, has arrived in the Indian Ocean near the Gulf of Arabia. This group replaces the Kearsarge which was diverted to Libya. The LHD-5 Bataan is on its way to the Med to relieve the Kearsarge and should be there next week.

The Kearsarge is off Libya participating in the Libyan action. This really isn't a very strong force. They have a few harrier jets that have been active, plus lots of choppers. Their Ospreys participated in rescuing a downed F-15 pilot in Libya this last week. The F-15 was not shot down, but suffered mechanical problems.

The biggest action has come from the US destroyers and submarines. At least one Trident is participating, the SSGN-728 Florida. Trident subs were originally SSBNs holding nuclear missiles, but the Navy retrofitted four of the oldest ones for cruise missiles and SEAL deployment. This is the first time Tridents have been used actively.

In other Naval action the USS Barry (DDG-52, a destroyer) along with air support from A-10 warthogs attacked the Libyan coast guard vessel Vittoria and two smaller craft which were firing on merchant vessels in the port of Misurata. The Vittoria and one of the smaller craft were abandoned after being damaged and the other craft was destroyed.

I can list the specific ships if you want, but other countries with ships off Libya right now include the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Romania, and Canada. Most of the ships are detroyers, frigates, or submarines, but the two substantioal carriers are the French Charles DeGaulle (R-91) and the Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi (C 551). If you count thye Kearsarge as a carrier (It's a baby carrier) then that's three in the area.

So, there are two carriers in the Gulf: Enterprise and Vinson and one Amphibious Group, the Boxer. This represents the "1.7" deployment mentioned earlier. Nine months out of the year there will be two carriers there. Normally there is one carrier and one amphibious group, so this is the new normal for that area.

In the Pacific we still have the George Washington sailing out of radiation range from Tokyo and the Reagan continues to assist with relief efforts along with the Essex, an amphibious ready group. There are a coupld dozen ships deployed in this area.

We have seven other carriers, all at or close to home.