With the news of its departure from the Middle East at the end of November, the U.S. Navy’s nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) is now deployed in the South China Sea to operate within the Seventh Fleet. It is worth noting that the carrier had been deployed to the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area to bolster the U.S. presence amid ongoing regional conflict.
The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), assigned to the Pacific’s Seventh Fleet, arrived in the USCENTCOM area of operations in late August for an indefinite period by order of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, joining the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71). This redeployment, prompted by the intensification of regional conflict between Israel and terrorist groups, also aimed to protect ground and maritime targets from drone, cruise missile, and ballistic missile attacks.
Prior to arriving in the South China Sea, the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) made a stop in Malaysia, marking the carrier’s first visit to the country since its arrest incident in 2013. On November 27, the carrier joined its escorts in the Singapore Strait: the destroyers USS Spruance (DDG-111) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112), which had been in Phuket, Thailand, and the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG-121), which was in Singapore.
Now, with the arrival of the CVN-72, the U.S. Navy will have three aircraft carriers in the Pacific: the USS George Washington (CVN-73) Strike Group, already stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, and the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), deployed near the island of Hawaii. Meanwhile, a group of ships from the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet is heading toward the South China Sea after a visit to the Thai port of Sattahip, including the submarine RFS Ufa (B-588).
You may also like: For $320 million, the U.S. authorizes the sale of a new support package for Taiwan Air Force’s F-16 Block 70 fighters
