Just days before Taiwan elected a president favoring sovereignty over closer ties to China, the U.S. deployed a third career strike group to the western Pacific theater.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) departed San Diego on Thursday to join the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76).
"U.S. quietly deployed a 3rd carrier strike group (CSG) to the western Pacific," an independent journalist posted to X, adding "they could have left in a hurry." "Aircraft carrier USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT got underway Thursday to follow VINSON CSG + join REAGAN CSG in the region."
The USS Theodore Roosevelt is the fourth Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered, aircraft carrier in the United States Navy.
The deployment was not announced before Thursday's departure, but a defense official confirmed its deployment to the USNI News on Friday after spotters witnessed the carrier leaving with a detachment of C-2A Greyhounds from the East Coast. The Greyhounds were filling in for the grounded CV-22B Ospreys, according to the report.
"Two C-2A Greyhounds from the 'Rawhides' of Fleet Logistics Squadron (VRC) 40 will get underway with Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group to provide crucial carrier onboard delivery (COD) services," Naval Air Forces wrote to USNI News in a statement. "U.S. Navy carrier air wings are uniquely flexible to interchange platforms within the air wing, and C-2A Greyhounds are a proven platform capable of carrying out logistical support and personnel transport to aircraft carriers."
The USS Theodore Roosevelt, which embarked with the guided-missile cruiser the USS Lake Erie (CG 70), is going to follow the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), which was in the Philippine Sea after deploying to the Western Pacific in October, according to USNI News.
The Vinson had planned a five to six month deployment and the Roosevelt had been scheduled to relieve it, but Thursday's deployment was earlier than anticipated. The Vinson had headed toward Taiwan amid the elections this weekend, according to the report on X.
The Reagan was the U.S. only forward-deployed carrier, but it completed its final patrol in November and is due to return home in 2024.
"Anytime & anywhere TR reports for duty, she (a floating city of 5,500 Sailors) brings 4.5 acres of sovereign U.S. territory & 97,000 tons of diplomacy," according to the U.S. Naval Air Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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