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According to the news released by the Joint Staff Office of the Japanese Ministry of Defense on the evening of August 12 local time, on the same day, the Chinese NavyShandongCarrier Battle GroupIt appeared in the waters 420 kilometers south of Miyako Island. The accompanying ships included the Type 055 missile destroyer "Yan'an", the Type 052D missile destroyer "Zhanjiang" and the Type 054A missile frigate "Yuncheng".

The Japanese side said that the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer "Akizuki" participated in the surveillance, and the Shandong ship carried out carrier-based fighter and helicopter take-off and landing training during the voyage. It is worth noting that the Shandong ship entered the Western Pacific through the Bashi Channel south of Taiwan Island, but the Taiwan military was stunned and has not yet made any comments.

Since it was commissioned in 2019, the Shandong has crossed the "first island chain" for five training missions in the open sea, in April, September, October last year, July this year, and this time. In other words, this ocean training was conducted less than a month after the last one, and the members of the battle group formation were the same as the last one.

According to the track of the Shandong ship, the last time it sailed, it was spotted around Luzon Island in the Philippines on June 26, then sailed out of the Western Pacific on July 9, and returned from the South China Sea on July 19, a total of 24 days. If the time from the departure from Sanya home port to the discovery on June 26, as well as the return journey, is counted, it was definitely sailing for more than 30 days. Those who claim that the self-sustaining capacity of Chinese aircraft carriers does not exceed one month can shut up now.

We must understand that China does not seek global hegemony, and the Chinese Navy does not need to deploy globally like the US Navy and intervene in regional situations everywhere. Therefore, the US aircraft carriers can go to sea for more than 200 days at a time, and often need to be deployed longer than the scheduled time. Their performance is powerful enough, but it is not our rigid demand. There is no need to force the US military model on our army.

This is not the end. Only 25 days after the Shandong ship returned to the West Pacific, on August 12, the Shandong ship appeared again. The US "Newsweek" said that this was the shortest training interval of the Shandong ship in recent years. Carrying out ocean voyages and exercises twice within one month shows that China's aircraft carrier formation has made great progress in high-intensity ocean combat capabilities. This kind of reliability and flexibility is now envied by the US Navy.

Although the US military has many aircraft carriers, they are facing the dilemma of not having enough at this critical moment. The world is not peaceful. The US military's 11 aircraft carriers are working overtime every day. Now most of them are either in the maintenance cycle or in the training cycle. Strictly speaking, only the "Roosevelt" is in the deployment cycle.Houthi armed forcesMoreover, Iran's planned retaliatory actions are full of great uncertainty. To be conservative, the US military temporarily decided to pull the USS Lincoln to the Middle East. With this move, the US military now has zero remaining aircraft carrier forces in the Western Pacific.

So where is the USS Lincoln now? It just arrived in Guam not long ago and completed joint exercises with the Italian aircraft carrier Cavour. With US Secretary of Defense Austin ordering an accelerated trip to the Middle East, the USS Lincoln and the Shandong are likely to pass by each other at the current pace. Taiwanese media reports believe that the USS Lincoln is expected to enter the South China Sea via the Sulu Sea in order to actively avoid encountering the Shandong.

Yes, the U.S. Navy is so desperate for available aircraft carriers that even though people have arrived in the Western Pacific and the Shandong is right in front of them, there is no time to show deterrence head-on. This is a bit of a "little regret". After all, the Lincoln is not low-profile and is the first ship of the U.S. Navy to officially carry the F-35C fifth-generationCarrier-based aircraftIn the past, we didn't have many opportunities to meet, so being able to "learn from each other" would be quite beneficial to improving the combat power of our aircraft carrier.

Since the USS Lincoln did not give it a chance, this tour obviously lacked some meaning. According to the news released by the Japanese Ministry of Defense today, from August 12 to 13, the Shandong aircraft carrier battle group was returning to the South China Sea along the Bashi Channel, playing a quick attack and quick retreat. Looking at future trends, the Shandong aircraft carrier and the USS Lincoln may have a chance to make up for the missed encounter in the Western Pacific in the South China Sea.