7th Fleet Focus: News and Events

Even though I listed the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in the 5th Fleet Area of Operation this week, the Nimitz has already departed for the Pacific. In fact, there are so many rotations in and out of the 5th fleet this week that last post will be inaccurate more often than accurate over the next 7 days.

The Nimitz CSG and the Stennis CSG have somewhere to be though, because it is summertime, which means it is time for everyones favorite exercise in the Pacific, namely Valiant Shield 2007. That picture last year with the USAF B-2s, and 3 CSGs is what film is made for. This year, with the exception of excluding foreign observers, the exercise will be pretty much the same including USAF assets and 3 CSGs, specifically the Kitty Hawk CSG, the Nimitz CSG, and the Stennis CSG.

What does this mean? It means all those 'holy shit' types who saw the Enterprise CSG departure as a prelude to war with Iran are wrong again. Poor Wesley Clark, apparently he went from the slogan of "An Army of One" to an "Army of Paranoid Fools." Bottom line, it looks like the Navy has reduced the number of carriers in the 5th Fleet to 1, at least until September when the Truman strike groups scheduled deployment takes it there.

In true Navy form though, the 3 Carrier Strike Groups for Valiant Shield 2007 are as usual, nothing more than the distraction. While we sleep comfortably at night, like the sneaky little bastards they are, COMSUBPAC has been rotating their forces around the Pacific. While it is noteworthy the US is back up to 3 SSNs in Guam (USS City of Corpus Christi (SSN 705), USS Houston (SSN 713), USS Buffalo (SSN 715)), I've been watching the Seawolf class in its rotation to the Northwest.

Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton really changes the way the Navy can respond to crisis in the northern Pacific unlike any other location. At the same speed, it only takes 'about' 1 more day from Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton to get to a place like, say Shanghai, China for example, than it does if the submarines were based at Pearl Harbor. The difference though is that Pearl Harbor is out in the middle of the Pacific, while Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton is in Washington state, and every approach to the Pacific from Washington puts the submarines over air support from Alaska, Hawaii, and Japan. I also say "at the same speed" for a reason, because as those familiar with the Seawolf class know that "at the same speed," if the speed is fast, means two different things for a Seawolf class and a Los Angeles class sub. At high speed, one you might hear, the other you won't hear.

I agree with bubblehead, that fleet the US Navy is putting together in Washington state is really, really impressive, and with the strategic options, may be the most powerful, full combination of assembled forces in the world.

Finally the USS Peleliu (LHA 5) has hit the midway point in its Pacific Partnership humanitarian mission. I still believe this deployment, along with the deployment of the USNS Comfort (T-AH 20), are two of the most important deployments this summer. I wonder if it is possible to empirically measure the value in dollars for this deployment compared to say, a humanitarian mission led by another agency. I can't imagine anyone in the federal government is able to make as much of an impact on a region than the US Navy and whomever it brings with them, and certainly not cover the same area with the same capabilities with anywhere near the same cost, and this mission is being conducted on a very large, expensive old LHA. I'd love to see cost comparisons, because I think what we would see is how the State Dept does less with more. My bet would be the US Navy outperforms by a large margin per dollar spent compared to other agencies and institutions (the UN comes to mind) in providing needs to those in need.