3 U.S. Carrier Strike Groups to Exercise for 4 Days in the Sea of Japan
By: Sam LaGrone November 8, 2017 6:08 PM
Top to bottom: USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), USS Nimitz (CVN-68), USNI News Image
Three U.S. carrier strike groups will drill together – in the first tri-carrier operations in a decade – off the Korean peninsula in the Sea of Japan, several sources confirmed to USNI News on Wednesday. USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), along with their escorts and air wings, are set to meet off the coast of Korea for four days of exercises later this week.
“These three carriers are not there specifically targeting North Korea. … This is a routine demonstration of our commitment to the region,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford said last week. Defense officials told USNI News that, since all three carriers entered U.S. 7th Fleet in October, there would be likely that at least two of the carriers conducting joint operations.
Nimitz is in transit to its homeport in Washington state, while Roosevelt is set to start operations in the Persian Gulf since departing last month from San Diego. Reagan has been operating off the Korean peninsula since last month. In late May, Reagan and the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group conducted the first dual-carrier operations off of the Korean Peninsula since the late 1990s in reaction to a series of provocative missile tests conducted by North Korea. News of the exercises comes as the Navy has seven carriers underway for the first time in years.
USNI News understands there will be international participation in the exercise, but it is still unclear which navies will join the exercise and in what capacity. However, reports indicate the Japanese would send a ship following a separate exercise. “A Japanese destroyer, the Inazuma, will join the armada, two Japanese government officials said, following a separate three-day exercise with the Reagan and two Indian warships in the Sea of Japan that ended Monday,” according a Tuesday report in newswire Reuters. The tri-carrier operations will be the largest exercise since 2007, when the Nimitz, John C. Stennis and Kitty Hawk Carrier Strike Groups exercised off of Guam as part of Exercise Valiant Shield.
The drills come as President Donald Trump is on a state visit to the region and against a backdrop of increasing tensions between North Korea and Washington. Trump was in Beijing on Wednesday and met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a meeting in which he was expected to discuss how to curb Pyongyang’s ongoing nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
