It’s beyond me why any movement of our ships, planes, troops is posted in open source (any open source).
Just saying...
It’s cheaper to pose then to act.
However, maybe that’s the point...the Middle East needs to know we’re serious.
The USS Nassau group is part of a routine deployment. The news about the other ships was leaked to Reuters, AFP and AP at the same time yesterday, i.e. they want this to be public for a reason, its a show of force.
Sometimes we WANT people to know. Its message sending and sometimes its to people you do not suspect. Trust me...if we did not want them to know they would not know and though the Med may seem small they would have trouble finding them too!
I’ve wondered the same thing.
It is no secret where our ships are (except submarines). Out in the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Gulf, etc., we are almost always within visual range of fishing, shipping and other commercial vessels. These ships all have radios.
Now, where we're going tends to be a little more secret. When the Eisenonhower was sent to support operations off the coast of Somalia in Dec. '07, they turned off the ship's phones and email until after we got there.