Thread: U.S. carrier not near North Korea after all

U.S. carrier not near North Korea after all

David Jackson
4:10 p.m. ET April 18, 2017

WASHINGTON — Turns out the United States didn't have a strike carrier group near the Korean Peninsula in recent days amid tensions with North Korea.

While President Trump said last week he had sent an "armada" as a warning to Kim Jong-Un's government, the carrier USS Carl Vinson and strike force warships were headed instead to the Indian Ocean for joint exercises with the Australian Navy, more than 3,000 miles from Korean Peninsula.

The White House said it based its statements on guidance from the Defense Department.

The New York Times reported that Pentagon officials "described a glitch-ridden sequence of events, from a premature announcement of the deployment by the military’s Pacific Command to an erroneous explanation by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis."

A Navy photograph over the weekend showed the Carl Vinson in the Sunda Strait near the Indonesian islands.

Defense News first reported the story earlier Tuesday.

Media across the world reported the alleged movement of the Vinson to an area near North Korea, interpreting it as a warning to North Korea over prospective missile or nuclear weapons tests.

The Koreans did try to test a missile, but it exploded seconds after launch.

In an interview a week ago with Fox Business Network, Trump declined to outline his potential strategy against North Korea, but added that "we are sending an armada, very powerful. We have submarines, very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier, that I can tell you."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ada/100611334/

While I have to believe this was intention - it is frightening

It started with a news story based on an April 8th press release from some Admiral in charge of that Pacific Command. It didn't start with the White House or the Defense Department or the National Security Council. It's the strangest damn thing in the world.

What the hell is going on within our government???

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

What the hell is going on within our government???

None of them know what they are doing.
They all just make it up as they go along.

Official: White House, Pentagon miscommunicated on aircraft carrier's location

By Jim Acosta and Ryan Browne, CNN
Updated 7:30 PM ET, Tue April 18, 2017

(CNN)As the White House was talking about sending a naval "armada" to the Korean Peninsula, the very ships in question were on their way to participate in military exercises in the Indian Ocean, some 3,500 miles in the opposite direction.

A senior administration official blamed a miscommunication between the Pentagon and the White House over reports that the aircraft carrier has not made its way to the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, as an expected show of force to North Korea.

The official blamed the mixup on a lack of follow-up with commanders overseeing the movements of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier.


On April 8, US Pacific Command, which oversees military operations in the region, issued a statement saying that the Carl Vinson and an accompanying strike group would leave Singapore and head to the Western Pacific, with a US military official telling CNN that it was a "show of force" in response to North Korea's provocations.

Following the announcement, President Donald Trump and some of his top aides highlighted the deployment as part of the administration's response to Pyongyang's recent missile tests.

"We are sending an armada. Very powerful. We have submarines, very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier, that I can tell you," Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network.

And the announcement that the Vinson had been dispatched to the region increased tensions with Pyongyang, with its official Korean Central News Agency calling the carrier's deployment "nothing but a reckless action of aggression to aggravate the tensions in the region."


The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson leads the guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy and the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain in the Indian Ocean on April 14.


But soon after the Pacific Command statement, US military officials clarified to CNN that the strike group would first complete a previously scheduled military exercise with the Australian navy.
Further confusion was added when Secretary of Defense James Mattis told reporters last week that the exercises had been canceled. Multiple US defense officials told CNN that Mattis had inadvertently misspoke and that it was a port visit in Australia that was canceled to allow for the group's redeployment to the waters near the Korean Peninsula.

The strike group, including the 97,000-ton carrier and its 60-plus aircraft, the guided-missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Michael Murphy and the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain, will arrive off the Korean Peninsula by the end of April, multiple US defense officials told CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/18/politi...n-korea-trump/

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

What the hell is going on within our government???

I found the problem.

WHO'S RUNNING THE GOVERNMENT? Trump has yet to fill 85% of key executive branch positions