Please note this, 5th Fleet:
Iran says it will hold a "massive" naval drill near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the first such exercise since the incident involving 10 U.S. sailors who were briefly captured by Iran when they drifted into Iranian territorial waters earlier this month.
Which again makes me ask why on God's green Earth do we have aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf?
If Iran--somehow despite all the hopes our administration has for turning Iran into a responsible regional non-nuclear power--wants to fight us, they will fight us in the Gulf. And if they do, an aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea where it has room to maneuver can safely project air power into the Gulf.
Indeed, the only good news out of the whole Iranian seizure of our 2 small Navy boats (other than the safety of the crews) is that we have small boats in the Persian Gulf.
Get more of these to support the Cyclones.
Small and medium boats backed by air power projected into the body of water are the way to go to contest Iran for control of the Gulf. Aircraft carriers have no business being there until Iranian sea, land-based missile, and air power are knocked down.
If our Navy really believes it needs its own planes in the region to fly north over Iraq rather than relying on Air Force planes on plentiful land bases of regional allies, why couldn't the Navy deploy a carrier air wing without the carrier?
Seriously, why are we dangling a carrier at Iran's door step, inviting them to launch a first strike in a crisis to get a good shot in while they can and some lovely footage of a burning American carrier?
