No U.S. aircraft carrier in Pacific for first time since 2001

FPI / August 29, 2024

Geostrategy-Direct

For the first time in decades, the United States does not have an aircraft carrier in the Pacific.

Despite rising tensions with China over disputed islands in the South China sea and a recent Chinese air incursion near Japan, the Biden administration ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to deploy from the Pacific to the Middle East to prepare for a possible conflict with Iran.

Earlier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt was sent to the Middle East.

Both carriers were in the Gulf of Oman as of Aug. 26, according to the United States Naval Institute (USNI) fleet tracker.

The 11 U.S. aircraft carriers deploy scores of warplanes that can conduct both land and sea strikes. Carrier strike groups normally include several guided-missile warships and support vessels along with a submarine. The groups can include up to 7,500 sailors and Marines.

It is the first time the U.S. has not had an aircraft carrier in the Pacific since 2001.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters earlier this month that the lack of a carrier strike group in the Pacific has not lessened the military’s defense posture in the region.

But retired Navy Capt. Jim Fanell called the Biden administration’s carrier moves "dangerous," according to a report by security correspondent Bill Gertz for the Washington Times.

Fanell compared the decision to the Obama administration in 2012 opting not to respond forcefully to China’s seizure of the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, That decision only encouraged the Chinese military to build up more strategically located islands in the sea that are now armed with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles, he noted.

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