Summer Pulse 04

The reason I sleep better at night knowing Bush-Rumsfeld are at the helm.

As a seafaring friend of mine once remarked, an aircraft carrier is not really listed on the books as a “ship,” but as a “strategic asset.” And when a country starts to move 7 out of 12 of these assets around on the global chessboard, it might betoken something more than just a summer ‘exercise.’
Indeed, if this were wartime (What? It is? Who knew?) moving this much killing power out onto the seas would be thought of as a fleet surge.
Truman, Enterprise, Stennis, Washington, Kennedy, Reagan, Kitty Hawk. It could all be, of course, just prudent planning and practice. On the other hand, given the various signals being sent by Homeland Security, the nearness of the Olympics, and the advent of the elections, it may be a case of “Fortune favors the forward deployed.”
Oh, did I mention that another carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln is listed by the Navy as underway as well?
It’s also interesting that the same page: U.S. Navy – Status of the Navy tells us that 92% of our surface ships are currently underway or deployed, and that 91% of our submarine fleet is either underway or deployed.
This is a lot of activity.

hat tip- Stephen Green who has this too.
update – By way of contrast, this item courtesy Pol:Spy

The Canadian navy will sit out the war on terrorism for one year in an effort to give exhausted sailors a chance to recuperate. HMCS Toronto left the Arabian Sea and the American George Washington Carrier Strike Group July 4 with a broken Sea King helicopter on deck.
And the navy has quietly decided against dispatching a replacement ship until spring 2005 at the earliest.
The Sea King on HMCS Toronto has been grounded since June 25 after particles were discovered in its gearbox.
Naval Capt. Bruce Belliveau, Toronto’s commanding officer, said the Sea King was available to hail foreign ships during 80% of the six-month deployment. It broke down during the frigate’s preparations to leave.

Urgh.

8 Replies to “Summer Pulse 04”

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  3. Huh? Everyone wants our subs. The Yanks and the Limeys don’t run diesel boats anymore so ours are spending a lot of time going in small circles waiting for trainee sonarmen from the USN and RN to find them. One of the few reasons we haven’t been totally dropped from Nato councils.

  4. Ooops. Sorry. In my defense I would like to point out I shouldn’t be allowed to post at 5 in the morning and I got confused because , actually I do know where at least 8 USN boats are. If a carrier is underway, there is a hunterkiller sub within 300 miles, under command of the carrier battle group.
    The USN used to advertise that doctrine, that a carrier always had a sub nearby.

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