Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Was The U.S. Threat To Send A Carrier Strike Force To The Korean Peninsula A Bluff?


New York Times: Aircraft Carrier Wasn’t Sailing to Deter North Korea, as U.S. Suggested

WASHINGTON — As worries deepened last week about whether North Korea would conduct a missile test, the White House declared that ordering an American aircraft carrier into the Sea of Japan would send a powerful deterrent signal and give President Trump more options in responding to the North’s provocative behavior.

The problem was, the carrier, the Carl Vinson, and the four other warships in its strike force were at that very moment sailing in the opposite direction, to take part in joint exercises with the Australian Navy in the Indian Ocean, 3,500 miles southwest of the Korean Peninsula.

White House officials said on Tuesday they were relying on guidance from the Defense Department. Officials there 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 — all of which perpetuated the false narrative that an American armada was racing toward the waters off North Korea.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Talk about a failure to communicate a proper message and to coordinate operations. To put it bluntly .... this looks bad. As for when will this aircraft carrier strike group be off the Korean peninsula coast .... it looks like it will be at the end of April .... USS Carl Vinson carrier group expected off Korea at end of April (CNN)

More News On The U.S. Aircraft Carrier Strike Group Carl Vinson

Nothing to see here: US carrier still thousands of miles from Korea -- Defense News
The White House’s misleading statements about Trump’s ‘armada’ heading to North Korea -- Washington Post
Despite talk of a military strike, Trump’s ‘armada’ actually sailed away from Korea -- Washington Post
Carrier strike group wasn't headed to Korean Peninsula, despite Trump's saber-rattling -- L.A. Times
Aircraft carrier wasn’t moving toward North Korea when WH said it was -- The Hill
That 'Armada' Heading To North Korea? Actually, It Sailed South -- NPR
Trump’s ‘armada’ heading to North Korea was really off Australian coast -- Politico
US Navy photo reveals aircraft carrier nowhere near North Korea -- Business Insider
How Did the Trump Administration Lose an Aircraft Carrier? -- David Graham, The Atlantic

6 comments:

fazman said...

No wonder kim always thinks the u.s is bluffing and pushes it to the edge.
Not following up with implied threats is working gainst you Don, this guy will not be played as a fool.

RussInSoCal said...

A very stupid and avoidable screw up. You could parse the statement and determine that Trump never said specifically that the Vinson would be returning to Korea. An anonymous Pentagon official did. That the Vinson was actually cruising off Korea for the entire month of March and into the first week of April - during the time of Xi's US visit and the Syria strike. But the clear implication was that the Vinson was indeed steaming north back to Korea.

An "Armada" is very likely off the Korean Penn right now. Probably comprised of Ohio class subs and Burke class DDG's. Throw in some Cruisers as well.

Just no aircraft carrier.

Roger said...


Testing NK's reactions? A disinformation campaign? Is this all actually an error?

Anonymous said...

It's an error and could have caused a nuclear incident. You gotta wonder on which side Trump is

Jay Farquharson said...

In South Korea, Hong Joon-pyo, the presidential candidate from former leader Park Geun-hye’s ruling party, said it was inappropriate to judge before receiving final confirmation of the Carl Vinson’s whereabouts. But, in an interview, he said: “What Mr. Trump said was very important for the national security of South Korea. If that was a lie, then during Trump’s term, South Korea will not trust whatever Trump says.”


http://www.marinevesseltraffic.com/2013/02/military-ship-track.html?m=1

Jay Farquharson said...

Seems a few Tomahawks and a MOAB, while it got all the news anchors had and patriotic, didn't bury Agent Orange's Russian Affair,