Navy Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., commander of U.S. Pacific Command, yesterday directed the Carl Vinson Strike Group to sail north and report on station in the Western Pacific Ocean after departing Singapore April 8.
Navy Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., commander of U.S. Pacific Command, yesterday directed the Carl Vinson Strike Group to sail north and report on station in the Western Pacific Ocean after departing Singapore April 8.
USS Carl Vinson and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ships steam in formation
The Carl Vinson Strike Group, including the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, embarked Carrier Air Wing 2, guided missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Michael Murphy, and guided missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain, will operate in the Western Pacific rather than executing previously planned port visits to Australia.
The strike group will remain under the operational control of U.S. 3rd Fleet as part of the 3rd Fleet Forward initiative.
Deployed from San Diego, California, to the Western Pacific since Jan. 5, the strike group has participated in numerous bilateral exercises with the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force and South Korea’s navy, various maritime security initiatives and routine patrol operations in the South China Sea.
For more than 70 years, the U.S. Navy has maintained a persistent naval presence in the Indo-Asia Pacific. The U.S. 3rd Fleet leads naval forces in the Pacific and provides the realistic, relevant training necessary for an effective global Navy.
