Third US Aircraft Carrier Returning Unexpectedly To Mideast Ahead Of Schedule

Originally posted by joeraynor
Oddly enough, they went to port first in Spain, then in Greece, the two countries hardest hit in the economic downturns in Europe.

Good point, but, then, they always do stop at Spain, Italy, or Greece, where we just happen to have naval bases. It's not like they can easily make a port visit to Triploi or Cairo. Where else would they go?

NBC News: Aircraft carrier USS Stennis going to Persian Gulf early, staying longer

on.msnbc.com...

More clarification:

The Pentagon is sending the aircraft carrier USS John Stennis to the Persian Gulf region four months ahead of schedule as tensions rise over Iran’s nuclear program.....

The shift and extension of the Stennis deployment will allow the U.S. Central Command to keep two aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf region, Gulf of Oman and North Arabian Sea, not only as a hedge against Iran, but also to support combat air operations over Afghanistan.

The carrier USS Lincoln left the Persian Gulf area Monday.

The carriers Enterprise and Eisenhower will remain in the region until the Stennis relieves the Enterprise about five months from now.

It will take the Stennis about a month to reach the region.

----

In one paragraph it says to keep TWO aircraft carriers, but then it says there are two carriers there now - Enterprise and Eisenhower. And it will be one month for the Stennis to reach the region (Mid-August), but it "won't relieve" the Enterprise for another 5 months (November). So the implication is that there are THREE carriers in the region from Mid-August to Mid-November.

Also: (Although less detail on time)
www.defense.gov...

To confuse us more....

ABCentagon Sends Carrier to the Middle East Early

news.yahoo.com...

"...In September the U.S. was going to go down to one carrier, as the USS Enterprise would not be replaced after it left the region. To prevent that from happening the Stennis has had its deployment orders changed from the Pacific to the Middle East."

...so reporter error on the part of one or both articles. Or one reporter heard one story, and the other - something else. Perhaps the latter was a different story after they realized the implication of what the first reporter heard. September or November which is it?

Well...I guess it doesn't matter...the "chips" will fall wherever they are meant to....final message on this topic for me. September is in the time window too...

Older article from February 2012 UK Guardian newspaper...

www.guardian.co.uk...

'Sweet spot' for Israeli action identified as September-October...."

One of the articles also notes an 8-month deployment. Earlier poster noted 6-7 months (average?) - so we can tack on 1 more month I guess...but this is nitpicking over endless detail....and pointless IMHO.

3 carriers is like 1-2-3 --> CHEESE..."smile for the camera." [Guess whose camera....]

some alternative month names....

August --> Accost
September --> Say Timber!
October --> ACT over (Act of a play, or acting over, time to lock n load?)

:-)

There will be FOUR carriers in the gulf region in August if the Lincoln moves there from the relative proximity of the eastern Med.

Relieving deployed carriers or not, that has not happened since the last Gulf war.

reply to post by schuyler



They have done extension of carrier cruises by sending out extra supply ships (or flying supplies to a local port where the tasked supply ship reloads and goes out).

It's not common. You would have to dig to find out which carrier and when. (wikipedia has pretty good articles on each ship including cruise history if anyone wants to find examples)

I think it was done during the initial Aug 90 build up after Iraq invaded Kuwait. I also have a friend who did a 1 year + cruise on Enterprise back in the early 90's. I think Nimitz did one in the early 2000s.

I agree with you, these threads do come up every deployment/replacement cycle time. And while I agree that is usually all it is...the fact that 3 or 4 are in the area does give you about a 1-2 week period that if, properly supplied, all 3 or 4 could conduct air operations. After the initial "surge" of an attack, the 1 or 2 at the end of deployment could still go home.

reply to post by AnonymousCitizen


here we go here we go here we go!!! just kidding