USS Lincoln Crew Headed For Middle East Brace For Conflict
By Alastair Gale Bloomberg August 11, 2024
Aug 11, 2024 (Bloomberg) –As the USS Abraham Lincoln pulled out from Guam, the aircraft carrier’s captain announced to the crew over the intercom that fresh US strikes to destroy Houthi missiles and drones in the Middle East were a “reminder of the environment we are going to.”
The Lincoln is set to relieve the USS Theodore Roosevelt later this month after a planned transit through the South China Sea. It will be the fourth US carrier to be deployed to the region since Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, a sign of America’s intention to defend its ally and deter major escalation.
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As Israel braces for a possible attack from Iran and regional militias in retaliation for assassinations of Hezbollah and Hamas officials, the US has sent defensive reinforcements while pressing for a Gaza cease-fire deal. This makes the environment far more challenging for the latest US carrier sent to the Middle East.
On board the Lincoln, sailors and airmen said they were prepared for what may be a long engagement. On the flight deck and in the cavernous hangar space, mechanics worked on F-18 and F-35 fighter jets that could play a central role to counter attacks against Israel and other targets such as commercial ships.
“It’s important to get the crew mentally prepared,” Captain Peter Riebe, the commanding officer of the Lincoln, said in an interview after his broadcast to the crew Thursday.
Critics have contended these deployments offer little in the way of deterrence and are fraught with risks. The US military has been targeted before in the region and the dispatch of American military assets could draw the US into a wider regional conflict.
“We’re exposing US troops to physical harm for no good reason, and the carrier deployment in particular is uniquely problematic,” said Van Jackson, a faculty member for international relations at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand.
He said carriers wouldn’t deter adversaries who have already been attacked. “Our habitual use of force in the Middle East has gotten us nothing good,” said Jackson, who served in the office of the US Secretary of Defense.
The Houthis have used missiles and drones to assault ships passing through the Red Sea. The Iran-back group has said they’re targeting vessels connected to Israel, the US and UK, but ships with no such ties have been hit.
Sailing with the Lincoln are destroyers that can launch Tomahawk missiles and operate air defense systems to shoot down missiles and drones.
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