An aircraft carrier strike group that the Trump administration had warned was headed toward North Korea in a powerful show of force has instead spent the last week thousands of miles away — and heading in the opposite direction.
The Pentagon’s disclosure on April 8 that the Carl Vinson carrier strike force was being diverted to waters near North Korea had contributed to rising global tensions over a possible U.S. conflict with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang.
Senior administration officials repeatedly cited the orders to rush the Carl Vinson strike force from Singapore to North Korea as a sign of President Trump’s willingness to directly confront a regime that has conducted five nuclear tests and multiple missile launches in violation of United Nations resolutions.
It was widely assumed that the carrier group was patrolling somewhere within range last weekend, when U.S. officials feared Kim Jong Un’s military would conduct a sixth underground nuclear test, or would try to test launch an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.
The U.S. ships have the ability to shoot down incoming missiles and launch cruise missiles of their own.
The Navy’s admission that the Carl Vinson and four other warships were, in fact, conducting exercises in the Indian Ocean last week and were still in Indonesian waters as of Saturday has raised fresh questions about the credibility of the White House, which has frequently come under attack for making false claims.
Trump said Navy ships were headed toward North Korea. They were going the other way
The Pentagon’s disclosure on April 8 that the Carl Vinson carrier strike force was being diverted to waters near North Korea had contributed to rising global tensions over a possible U.S. conflict with the nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang.
Senior administration officials repeatedly cited the orders to rush the Carl Vinson strike force from Singapore to North Korea as a sign of President Trump’s willingness to directly confront a regime that has conducted five nuclear tests and multiple missile launches in violation of United Nations resolutions.
It was widely assumed that the carrier group was patrolling somewhere within range last weekend, when U.S. officials feared Kim Jong Un’s military would conduct a sixth underground nuclear test, or would try to test launch an intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time.
The U.S. ships have the ability to shoot down incoming missiles and launch cruise missiles of their own.
The Navy’s admission that the Carl Vinson and four other warships were, in fact, conducting exercises in the Indian Ocean last week and were still in Indonesian waters as of Saturday has raised fresh questions about the credibility of the White House, which has frequently come under attack for making false claims.
Trump said Navy ships were headed toward North Korea. They were going the other way
