A second U.S. Pacific Fleet carrier is accelerating its transit to the Middle East on orders from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, creating another “carrier gap” in the Western Pacific.
Earlier this week, one of China’s three “flat-tops” trained for two days in waters near Taiwan and US allies Japan and the Philippines, and NATO member Italy sent a carrier strike group to Guam.
Aircraft carriers are the main platform used by countries for naval power projects to support national interests and foreign policy in the immediate and other areas. The US has the most aircraft carriers in the world with 11 in service, and six of them are based in the Pacific. China has the second largest carrier fleet.
NewsweekThe weekly update features a map of US and Chinese aircraft carrier movements in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. As of August 16, the locations of at least nine ships were publicly available through military disclosures or open-source satellite imagery.
US Navy
U.S.S Abraham Lincoln: Western Pacific Ocean
On Thursday, the Abraham Lincoln photo in the Singapore Strait as it departs from the South China Sea through the Strait of Malacca. At Lincoln has been ordered to the Middle East to support her sister ship USS Theodore Roosevelt.
Both sides in Roosevelt and on Lincoln has sailed from the West Coast for scheduled deployments in the Pacific. He was reinstated by the Defense Department amid tensions between Israel and Iran.
U.S.S Carl Vinson and U.S.S George Washington: San Diego, California
At Carl Vinson return to home port at Naval Air Station North Island on Friday after the conclusion of this month’s RIMPAC exercise in Hawaii. Previous observers had expected the Vinson to spread to the Western Pacific, but the Navy told Newsweek The ship continues “routine operations and training” near the West Coast.
At George Washington was still at Naval Air Station North Island on Thursday, according to satellite photos. It conducts a hull exchange with the USS Ronald Reagan in preparation for a forward deployment to Japan’s Yokosuka naval base this fall.
U.S.S Nimitz and U.S.S Ronald Reagan: Bremerton, Washington
Satellite imagery on Wednesday captured two aircraft carriers docked at Naval Base Kitsap’s Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton in Washington state. At Ronald Reagan arrived a day earlier for scheduled maintenance after nine years as the Navy’s forward aircraft carrier in Japan.
With no immediate flat-tops available for deployment to the Western Pacific, the Pentagon this week dismissed concerns about the lack of American naval power in the region.
Andrew Lewis, a retired Navy admiral and currently a non-resident fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington think tank, told Newsweek by email: “The posture of the troops is being managed ably by the commander.”
“The Secretary of Defense has limited resources and must make difficult decisions at real risk to combat readiness for combatant commanders,” he said. “I believe that combatant commanders are managing risk on the ground, at and at sea, and in the air, space, and cyber with assigned and allocated assets every minute of every day.”
America’s global network of allies and partners, especially in the Pacific, is “without comparison in modern history,” Lewis said, describing it as a “major advantage.”
People’s Liberation Army Navy
SSP Liaoning: Qingdao, Shandong
Sentinel Hub
China’s first operational airliner, built in the Soviets Liaoningit is still moored pierside at the home base in Qingdao there, according to available satellite imagery.
SSP Shandong: South China Sea
At Shandong and three other Chinese naval warships were spotted conducting flight operations in the Philippine Sea on Monday, the Joint Staff Office at Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a report. The carrier group left the area the following day and returned to the South China Sea.
SSP Fujian: Shanghai
At FujianChina’s third naval ship and the most advanced aircraft, remains in the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard, where it was built, satellite photos show there. The ship recently returned from a nearly month-long trial in the Yellow and Bohai Seas in northeastern China.
Italian Navy
IT Cavor: Guam
Mother ship Cavor and ITS frigates Alpine became the first Italian naval ship to visit the US Pacific territory of Guam on Sunday, coming on the back of a multilateral naval exercise in Australia and a dual carrier exercise with the USS. Abraham Lincoln.
An Italian strike group will visit Japan after a logistical stop at Guam Naval Base.