America deploys Aircraft Carrier Nimitz to Gulf amid Iran tension
Pastor Dale Morgan
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Saturday, March 31, 2007
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America deploys Aircraft Carrier Nimitz to Gulf amid Iran tension*
WASHINGTON (AFP)
Nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz will sail on Monday to
support US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US Navy said, amid a
spike in tensions over Iran's seizure of 15 British marines and sailors.
The Nimitz, and its battle group of destroyers and guided missile
cruisers, will relieve the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, which this week
took part in war games exercises in the Gulf with another carrier, USS
John S Stennis.
The new battle group will be in position by late-to-mid April, but there
will be no overlap with the Eisenhower, and the number of US carriers in
the area would stay at two, a navy official said on condition of anonymity.
"If anything, there would be a point where there is only one in the
region," the official said, on condition of anonymity.
The Stennis and the Eisenhower wound down their show of force involving
15 warships in the Gulf on Thursday.
The two carrier deployment in the Gulf was the highest level US naval
presence in the key strategic channel since the US invasion of Iraq in
March 2003. The Nimitz will support operations in Iraq, the Horn of
Africa and Afghanistan, the navy said in a press release.
The Stennis had been operating in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea
but entered Gulf waters on Tuesday, escorted by the guided-missile
carrier USS Antietam, the Fifth Fleet said.