news

한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina

After eight months of fighting with the Houthi armed forces, the USS Eisenhower (CVN-69) returned to its home port, ending "the most intense sea and air combat since World War II."

Pictured is the USS Eisenhower

According to the website of the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) on July 14, on the morning of the 14th, the USS Eisenhower and the rest of the ships of the 2nd Carrier Strike Group returned to their home port in Norfolk, Virginia after completing a 275-day deployment, which is the longest combat deployment of an aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War.

During the 275-day deployment, the Eisenhower flew more than 13,800 aircraft takeoffs and landings; the 3rd Carrier Air Wing (Tomahawk) accumulated more than 31,400 flight hours and used a total of 60 air-to-air missiles and 420 air-to-surface missiles. The other ships in the strike group, including three destroyers, a cruiser and a submarine, fired more than 135 Tomahawk cruise missiles and at least 150 Standard air defense missiles.

The USS Eisenhower and the 2nd Carrier Strike Group were deployed on October 14 last year, seven days after the Al-Aqsa flood. About a month and a half later, the Houthis in Yemen began attacking merchant ships. The USS Eisenhower sailed to the Red Sea and participated in Operation Guardian of Prosperity, during which it engaged the Houthis several times, with the Houthis claiming to have fired missiles at the USS Eisenhower three times. During the 275-day battle, US Secretary of Defense Austin extended the deployment of the aircraft carrier twice, ordering the first extension in late April and the second extension in June.

Colonel Marvin Scott, commander of the 3rd Carrier Air Wing, said the Houthi rebels often launch anti-ship ballistic missiles and cruise missiles at merchant ships and U.S. Navy ships in the Red Sea. The aircraft of the battle group are always on alert during the deployment to deal with "one-way ammunition" such as low-tech drones and cruise missiles from the coast. He commented: "We have really never seen a carrier battle group so close to the battlefield since World War II."

Squadron commander Orlov compared this battle to the anti-aircraft operations of the Kamikaze Special Forces against the Japanese Empire at the end of World War II, and said they learned a lot. He said: "This is a very close-range battle. As far as aircraft carriers are concerned, we have never seen such engagements, which can be traced back to World War II."

He also said they learned a lot from the battle, which he believes has great applicability in current and future conflicts around the world.

In short, after the eight-month battle, the USS Eisenhower returned home, replaced by the USS Roosevelt, which is on duty in the Indo-Pacific region. The USS Roosevelt entered the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Malacca on July 7 and has now arrived in the Middle East for deployment. This is a rare deployment of a West Coast aircraft carrier to the Middle East by the US military.

The USS Lincoln (CVN-72) will eventually replace the Roosevelt. The ship left port for deployment on July 10 and is expected to be deployed in the Indo-Pacific region in the second half of the year.

Further reading

Media: USS Eisenhower leaves Red Sea in a panic, US laments shortage of aircraft carriers

As the USS Eisenhower, which could not prove its innocence even after a cesarean section, left the Red Sea in a panic, the Pentagon once again lamented that "we don't have enough aircraft carriers." In order to fill the combat power gap caused by the departure of the USS Eisenhower, the US Navy had to transfer the USS Roosevelt, which was originally used to deter China in the Western Pacific, to the Middle East. The series of adjustments that followed exposed the US Navy's lack of resources in the deployment of aircraft carriers.

Why is the US Navy, which owns 11 super aircraft carriers, still so worried?

The picture shows the latest global deployment of US aircraft carriers

The U.S. Naval Institute website announced the latest global deployment of U.S. aircraft carriers on the 24th. Among them, the "Eisenhower" has left the Red Sea and will return to the U.S. mainland after a short stop in the Mediterranean. After all, this "second oldest" aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy has been deployed at sea for 8 months beyond its scheduled period. Regardless of whether it has been hit by missiles and drones from the Houthis, the mental state of the crew on board is already terrible.

The USS Roosevelt is about to head to the Middle East

The task of filling the gap in combat power in the Middle East fell to the USS Roosevelt, which had just arrived in South Korea. The aircraft carrier had been operating near the South China Sea, but as the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines intensified, the US aircraft carrier, which "did not want to cause trouble," quietly headed north, leaving its ally the Philippines behind. According to the Pentagon's new directive, after completing joint exercises with Japan and South Korea this week, the USS Roosevelt will head to the Red Sea to continue to "fight to the death" with the Houthi armed forces on behalf of the US Navy.

The Pentagon cannot allow the Western Pacific to have a combat power gap without the USS Roosevelt, so the USS Ronald Reagan, which had just finished the Brave Shield exercise and was docked in Guam, has been urgently dispatched to the Philippine Sea. Due to the serious delay in the maintenance of the successor USS Washington, the deployment time of the USS Ronald Reagan at the Yokosuka base in Japan has exceeded its deadline by two years, and there have been reports of problems with the ship's power system. Originally, after completing its last round of patrols in May, it had entered the "junk time" of this round of overseas deployment, waiting to return to the mainland for a mid-term overhaul in a few days, but now it is forced to go out again with illness.

As for the USS Washington, it is currently visiting South America and holding bilateral exercises with the Peruvian Navy. According to the plan, it will arrive in Japan later this summer to replace the USS Reagan.

The Carl Vinson is heading to Hawaii

By the way, the US Navy will hold the "RIMPAC 2024" joint naval exercise in Hawaii with 28 other countries, and "demonstrate deterrence to China" by sinking a 40,000-ton retired amphibious assault ship. How can such a "grand event" be without the participation of US aircraft carriers? Therefore, the "Carl Vinson" aircraft carrier, which was originally resting on the west coast of the United States, has set sail. It is worth mentioning that this aircraft carrier, which belongs to the US Third Fleet, just completed "overtime" in the Western Pacific to support the Seventh Fleet in April this year, but was caught again after a few days of rest...

There is no way. The USS Lincoln, which was originally planned to replace the USS Carl Vinson, is currently undergoing training with the carrier-based aircraft units and cannot carry out any missions for the time being.

Among the US aircraft carriers that can be deployed in the short term, only the USS Truman in the Atlantic is in the preparation stage before deployment and is in a slightly better state - if the Russian naval fleet in South America does not cause other major incidents...

The old driver checked and found that among the 7 aircraft carriers with known movements mentioned above, they are basically in the "one-to-one" replacement stage. The "Roosevelt" that was tied down in the Middle East started this round of deployment in April, which means that in the next few months, the US Navy will only have the "Washington", "Lincoln" and "Truman" with full combat capabilities worldwide. The other 5 aircraft carriers of the US Navy are in a stage where they cannot move. The oldest "Nimitz" aircraft carrier has been in service for half a century. It entered the maintenance stage after the end of the last round of deployment and is currently undergoing sea trials. The most powerful "Ford" was deployed beyond the deadline in its first actual combat deployment and is currently in the maintenance stage. It is undergoing a comprehensive overhaul of its onboard equipment and will not be able to go to sea in the short term. The "Bush" also entered the dock for maintenance at the end of last year.

The USS John C. Stennis will not be able to go to sea in the next two years.

The most unlucky one is the USS John C. Stennis. Affected by the delay in the maintenance of the USS Washington, the maintenance progress of the USS John C. Stennis also suffered the same problem - it began to replace nuclear fuel and mid-term upgrades in 2021, and was originally scheduled to complete this multi-billion dollar overhaul in August 2025. However, according to the fiscal year 2025 budget document released by the US Navy, it will take until at least October 2026 to complete this upgrade.

Looking back at the beginning of the year, Western media hyped up the news that "the United States will deploy five aircraft carriers around China at the same time in the middle of this year." It all seems like a lifetime ago...

As for the fundamental reason why the US Navy does not have enough aircraft carriers, it is actually because the Pentagon is too ambitious and has provoked too many targets at the same time - as the saying goes, if you use ten fingers to hold down ten fleas, you will not be able to catch the last one...