Preplanned Under Trump
On its route home to Bremerton, the USS Nimitz sailed into the disputed waters of the South China Sea this week to meet up and train with a fellow aircraft carrier.
The Nimitz and its flotilla of supporting ships are currently running exercises with the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group, bringing together more than 10,000 sailors and marines in waters where China has built artificial islands and a bolstered territorial presence.
The joint operation wasn't meant to be provocative toward any nation, the rear admirals in charge of the Roosevelt and Nimitz strike groups said in an interview with media Wednesday morning. It was instead a rare opportunity to bring together carriers and do so while "exercising our right to operate where international law allows," said Rear Adm. James Kirk, commander of Nimitz Strike Group.
"It makes all of our teams better," Kirk said.
The Roosevelt, which departed Guam last week, and Nimitz, which sailed from the Persian Gulf region, met at a tense time in the contested waters. China's People's Liberation Army flew aircraft into Taiwan's air defense zone in late January. The Financial Times reported that during the incursion, aircraft practiced simulated missile attacks on the Roosevelt, though the carrier was still more than 250 miles away.
Rear Adm. Doug Verissimo, commander of the Roosevelt strike group, said he's observed a "significant increase" of Chinese military activity in the sea in the past five years.
"We've seen an expansion of their military capability," he said.
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The Nimitz strike group had previously trained with the carrier strike group of the Japan-based USS Ronald Reagan group in July 2020. Kirk said the exercises this week were similar to those conducted with the Reagan.
The Bremerton-based Nimitz departed Bremerton in April 2020 following a quarantine on board to thwart the spread of COVID-19. The warship was ordered to head home by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in late January. No date of when it will arrive in Bremerton has been announced.
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Meanwhile, the Roosevelt fell victim last year to a COVID-19 outbreak while on deployment, with more than 1,200 of its approximately 5,000 crew members testing positive. A recently released report by the Department of Defense's Inspector General found "ineffective implementation" of social distancing, and quarantined personnel were released prematurely. The inspector general's report chided the entire Navy, finding that four in five of the Navy's commands it scrutinized, including the Pacific Fleet, had failed to conduct a biennial "Pandemic Influenza & Infectious Disease" exercise.
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The exercise in the South China Sea won't be the last time Nimitz and the Roosevelt will be side by side. The Nimitz is due for a planned incremental maintenance availability at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and will remain moored in Sinclair Inlet. This summer, the Roosevelt will arrive in Bremerton for an overhaul at its new, if temporary, homeport
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