Posted on 04/02/2007 7:09:28 PM PDT by Sleeping Beauty
SAN DIEGO – Amid rising tension with Iran, the aircraft carrier Nimitz and several other American warships will leave San Diego Monday for the Persian Gulf to join another locally based aircraft carrier strike group already in the region, military officials said. The Nimitz will join the San Diego-based John C. Stennis Strike Group and relieve the Dwight D. Eisenhower, according to Naval Air Forces Public Affairs.
Military officials said in a statement that the two-carrier presence in the Persian Gulf area is intended to demonstrate U.S. “resolve to build regional security and bring long-term stability to the region.”
The Nimitz's departure comes amid heightened tensions in the region following the detention of 15 British sailors and marines by Iran last week. Iran maintains the detainees were operating in its territorial waters, a charge the British government denies.
President Bush ratcheted up the rhetoric over the incident last week, calling the detainees “hostages” – a term not even the British had used.
The tension over the detainees coincides with international pressure on Iran to give up its uranium enrichment program, which it maintains is strictly for peaceful purposes. The United States and other nations fear Iran is working toward the development of nuclear weapons.
The Nimitz will support the war on terrorism, patrol the Horn of Africa and conduct marine security operations as part of the larger effort to “deter and dissuade others from acting counter to U.S. national interests,” according to a Navy statement.
The Nimitz Strike Group comprises the guided-missile cruiser Princeton, guided-missile destroyers Higgins, Chafee, John Paul Jones and Pinckney, two helicopter squadrons and an explosive ordnance disposal unit.
The Stennis and its strike group left Naval Base Coronado on Jan. 20. It is the largest carrier presence in the Persian Gulf since the start of the war in Iraq.
Four carriers, plus long-range bombers could put a big hurt on Iran. I smell an ultimatum coming their way. I don't see us putting boots on the ground there, but I wouldn't be surprised to see smouldering military installations.
Make it quick.
Enough’s enough. Captain Geo - you have our support. Just blast the living **** out of them!!! Back to the stone ages - which is where most of them would be - if it weren’t for the oil under their sand dunes.
Nothing could make victory more difficult than to use a draft. Nothing.
MESSAGE TO IRAN: Release the hostages or face the bombing of Qom.
God bless, protect, and keep safe each and every one aboard those vessels.
Now — kick afterburners!
What's the difference? Haven't you notice the Rats are defunding the war for partisan reasons?
And maybe the balloon will go up before the Nimitz arrives? That's not for us to know, but for the Persians to worry about.
The Reagan is in the vicinity of Korea.
What are we waiting for? Order Iran to release the British hostages and disband their nuclear program or we'll going to bomb their country into the stone age.
Yeah, and the Kitty Hawk with some 7th fleet pwnage can be there in no time if they’re needed. That would be like 5 carriers within spittin distance.
But keep 6. in mind.
6. Would you support or oppose sending U.S. troops into Iran?
Support 26% / Oppose 70%
The Nimitz is well known in the Persian Gulf.
Ahmandinejad will not have one peaceful night of sleep upon the arrival of the Nimitz.
Nothin' cooler than a U.S. Navy carrier under way. 
"...It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world." [FReeper Retief]
"...That the totalitarian force pitted against freedom wears a religious makes this civil war among mankind all the more difficult to engage. Loving freedom as we do, it seems reprehensible to deliberate against a religion. But this is no ordinary religion as it demands absolute obedience of all to their religion at the cost of freedom itself." [FReeper Backtothestreets]
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President Bush ratcheted up the rhetoric over the incident last week, calling the detainees “hostages” – a term not even the British had used.
Heavens no, let's not refer to them accurately, nosiree...rolling eyes!
Salem, carrier groups are truly awesome. Just one more example of the finest military on the planet.
Twenty-six years ago later this month will be the anniversary of the ill fated rescue mission to free the U.S. Embassy hostages in Tehran. The mission, in large part, was launched from the Nimitz. My brother-in-law, a Navy pilot flying the E-2C Hawkeye was assigned to the Eisenhower. The Eisenhower, based in Norfolk, was assigned to relieve the Nimitz ... and was steaming north thru the southern Indian Ocean (having just rounded the Cape of Good Hope) when the strike was launched from the Nimitz. Both carriers remained on station in the Arabian Sea for a brief period before the Nimitz returned to her home port. The 'Ike' CVG-69 remained at sea for nine months on that deployment, one of the longest stints at sea for a carrier since WWII. It's interesting that 26 years later (most of the crew on both these carriers hadn't been born yet) the same two carriers are again sailing these waters. Only this time it's the Nimitz relieving the Eisenhower.
God bless our troops.
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