Free Republic

Story Number: NNS090523-06 Release Date: 5/23/2009 10:46:00 AM By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Erin Oberholtzer, USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) Public Affairs. NEWPORT NEWS (NNS) -- A USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) officer has broken stereotypes in the Navy across all ranks during the past 22 years. Cmdr. Muhammad Khan, Air Department's Head of Department emigrated from Karachi, Pakistan in 1981, to earn a bachelor's degree in Computer Science at North Texas State University. Later, fascinated with Naval Aviation after watching the movie Top Gun, he enlisted in the Navy in 1987. "He is a great guy and a...

The carrier, along with the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, reaches the region as tensions are rising with Iran. Deployed San Diego-based ships in the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and Makin Island groups are now in the Middle East, the U.S. Fifth Fleet and Central Command has announced. The sailors, Marines and airmen aboard the ships arrive after Iranian officials recent threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane for the world's oil supply, and warned a departing U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, not to return to the Persian Gulf.

US President Barack Obama will spend Veterans Day Friday watching a college basketball game on the USS Carl Vinson -- the aircraft carrier from which Osama bin Laden was buried at sea. Obama, a keen basketball player himself, will be among some 7,000 spectators watching the game during a stop in San Diego en route to Hawaii, where he will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. He and the other spectators, most of them active-duty military personnel, will see Michigan State University take on North Carolina on a court set up on the deck of the giant warship. Tom...

The arrival of a giant US aircraft carrier here Friday with F/A-18 jet fighters aboard is a step in Washington's offensive to win a multi-billion-dollar contract to supply Brazil's air force with modern jet fighters. US Rear Admiral Ted Branch told reporters that the visit of the USS Carl Vinson is aimed at improving ties with the Brazilian navy following mercy operations in quake-stricken Haiti, and work with Brazilian personnel from the UN peacekeeping force in that country. However, the presence of the nuclear powered craft and the Super Hornet fighters on its deck, along with Boeing representatives on land,...

NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) arrived at its new homeport of Naval Station Norfolk July 31, after completing a seven-month trip around the world. Carl Vinson Sailors embarked on a journey that took them from their Naval Station Bremerton, Wash., homeport into the Persian Gulf for a four-month deployment, then to their new home at Naval Station Norfolk. Carl Vinson’s arrival in Norfolk accomplished the final leg of a homeport shift to Norfolk for a scheduled 36-month Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH). “We’re absolutely thrilled to have the Vinson here,” said Capt....

ABOARD USS ANTIETAM (NNS) -- USS Antietam (CG 54), a cruiser equipped with the Aegis Combat System, has patrolled the Persian Gulf since arriving on scene with the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) Carrier Strike Group in mid-March. The ship was a vital cog for the strike group as they conducted maritime security operations (MSO) and supported the coalition efforts in the region. Among the numerous operations conducted by Antietam in the Persian Gulf were Visit, Board, Search and Seizure (VBSS) operations and protection of vital assets such as Iraqi oil platforms and Carl Vinson. Antietam is also responsible for...