Nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz will sail Monday to support US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US Navy said, amid a spike in tensions over Iran's seizure of 15 British marines and sailors.
The Nimitz, and its battle group of destroyers and guided missile cruisers, will relieve the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which this week took part in war games exercises in the Gulf with another carrier, USS John S Stennis.
The new battle group will be in position by late-to-mid April, but there will be no overlap with the Eisenhower, and the number of US carriers in the area would stay at two, a navy official said on condition of anonymity.
"If anything, there would be a point where there is only one in the region," the official said, on condition of anonymity.
This is true only in a narrow technical sense. Yes, as Nimitz approaches the Gulf, the Eisenhower will leave, thus technically meaning we will be down to one carrier assigned until Nimitz arrives. But carriers move, and after heading east until any Russian and Chinese satellites pass out of range, Eisenhower could reverse course and make a high speed dash back to striking range of Iran. Or, the battlegroup could make a show-the-flag visit to an Indian port on the way home to hang out in the region a while before making a dash to striking range.
The bottom line is that we will have three carriers available in range of Iran for a short period of time in the latter part of April.
And I do wonder where are new cruise missile submarines (ex-ballistic missile subs crammed with conventional land attack cruise missiles) are. I think two are in service now.
I wonder what we will do with this naval power?
UPDATE: In a timely fashion, DID reports on our cruise missile submarines. We may have three available in theory.
