US Navy aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships update
Mid-April 2021 were busy times for the US Navy aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships as USNI reports.
The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) was in port in Yokosuka (Japan). The service’s forward-deployed carrier, was pulled into its homeport of Yokosuka on 14 November 2020, and its command plans two shorter patrols, with a a winter maintenance period in Yokosuka.
The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group is back in the South China Sea after a brief stop for provisions and personnel in Guam on 16 April 2021. The USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), together with the USS Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group and its 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked exercised together in the South China Sea. These drills came as tensions have increased between Manila and Beijing over a Chinese maritime militia incursion into the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11 is embarked aboard TR and includes a total of nine squadrons and detachments:
USS Makin Island (LHD-8), on the tail end of its deployment to the Middle East and Pacific, has embarked the 15th MEU with Aviation Combat Element VMM-164 Reinforced:
The Makin arrived at US Naval Base Guam on 18 April 2021 for a brief stop for provisions and personnel.
The Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group is now operating in the North Arabian Sea. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) and its air wing began dual-carrier flight operations with the French Navy Charles de Gaulle Carrier Strike Group in the Arabian Sea mid-April.
CVN-69 has Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3 embarked that includes:
The Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and the 24th MEU deployed on 25 March 2021 and continues to operate in the Celtic Sea, just south of Ireland. The ACE, assigned to the MEU, consists out of:
In the Mediterranean Sea, the Legend-class cutter USCGC Hamilton (WMSL-753) can be found. The ship operates with an MH-65D Dolphin.
USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, is underway in the Virginia Capes Operating Area. Kearsarge is at the beginning of a training and work-up cycle after completing a one-year maintenance availability in December 2020. The last known deployment of Kearsarge was from 17 December 2018 to 18 July 2019 with VMM-264 reinforced ('EH-xx') embarked.
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is also underway in the Virginia Capes for combat systems ship qualification trials ahead of the carrier’s upcoming shock trials. The US Navy conducts shock trials on new ship classes to determine if any of the ship’s critical systems need to be further hardened to ensure resiliency under combat conditions. Shock tests are designed to find vulnerabilities which are then corrected in all ships of the class.
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) is underway in the Southern California Operating Areas since 7 April 2021. According to the Naval Sea Systems Command, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility’s San Diego Detachment completed a Planned Incremental Availability for Lincoln on 7 April 2021. The availability began on 3 September 2020 with work that included periodic maintenance, upgrades to crew living, and modernization to combat systems. The ship also underwent retrofits to accommodate F-35 aircraft. As known, the CVN-72 will be prepared for an upcoming deployment with the F-35C as well as the CMV-22B.
The USS Essex (LHD-2) is also underway in the Southern California Operating Areas. The last known deployment of Essex was from 10 July 2018 to 1 March 2019 with VMM-166 reinforced ('YX-xx') embarked.
Photos: US Navy