Posted on 09/01/2013 4:19:40 PM PDT by kristinn
The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and other ships in its strike group are heading west toward the Red Sea to help support a limited U.S. strike on Syria, if needed, defense officials said on Sunday.
The Nimitz carrier strike group, which includes four destroyers and a cruiser, has no specific orders to move to the eastern Mediterranean at this point, but is moving west in the Arabian Sea so it can do so if asked. It was not immediately clear when the ships would enter the Red Sea, but they had not arrived by Sunday evening, said one official.
"It's about leveraging the assets to have them in place should the capabilities of the carrier strike group and the presence be needed," said the official.
SNIP
The Nimitz carrier group had been in the Indian Ocean, supporting U.S. operations in Afghanistan, but was due to sail east around Asia to return to its home port in Everett, Washington, after being relieved in recent days by another aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman.
Given the situation in Syria, U.S. military officials decided to reroute the Nimitz and send it west toward the Red Sea, and possibly the Mediterranean, officials said.
The Navy has also sent the USS San Antonio, an amphibious ship with 300 Marines and extensive communications equipment on board, to join the five destroyers, diverting it from a previously scheduled mission that would have taken it farther west.
A second official said the San Antonio had been asked to serve as an afloat forward staging base, which could provide a temporary base for special operations forces, if they were needed. It could also assist with evacuations.
(Excerpt) Read more at mobilebeta.reuters.com ...
More Obama sword polishing....ummm, errr....I mean saber rattling.
Evacuations? Special Ops? This is no limited thing. They are liars.
Hasn’t Obama killed enough troops yet?
This guy is going to wind up costing us a carrier and or massive casualties before he’s done.
Maybe that’s what he wants to happen. What better way to politically neuter the military than to put them into impossible situations?
We’re coming up on the anniversary of 9-11, post-Benghazi, and we don’t already have a carrier in the Med???
So he is trying to get our fleet destroyed also?
Freep this. We have no clear interest in Syria. Pull back, defend American citizens, and wait until we have leadership that knows sh*t from Shinola.
I see this as Obama wants to be able to use the military like Bush did in Adganistan and Iraq. He sees this as his chance after five years of waiting. However he has no plan or objective besides mice some ships and troops to the region and hope it works itself out.
Obama has helped al Qaeda from the border with Mexico,
through Libya, and Egypt to Syria, and in scores
of other countries.
He wants his legacy....Arab Spring flamed out on him.
Agreed...
Obama talked about the responsibilities of others before relaxing again. That’s what presidents have been doing for quite some time: making speeches and signing papers. Congress will also decide what to talk about and pose, while our military forces do a small portion of whatever is needed (taking teeny, tiny bites in the direction of Iran’s nukes).
The jug-eared wimp has money to rerout a carrier task force to the Med to make him look tough, but he won’t spend a fw thousand to see that Marines in Afghanistan get hot meals.
Watching this dimwitted asshat still floundering in the job after 4 1/2 years shows that he just doesn’t have the brain power to handle the job and can’t even learn from hands on experience.
If it wasn’t for affirmative action and his black skin Obama would have trouble qualifying for a job with GM as a hubcap pounder.
silk worm missles?
I have a bad feeling about this...
Any one up for another world war?
Oh, and on the enemy’s magic anti-ship and anti-aircraft weapons, LOL! Despite the political confusions and noise at the moment, we’ll find out about that very shortly.
“nuclear-powered aircraft carrier”
That’s a big piece of information. Had they just sent a wind powered carrier; it would be a different story.
Yes, I understand the masts get in the way of planes trying to land and take off.
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