laststandonzombieisland

So the Navy is conducting operations with two (2) carrier strike groups in the Far East, which has China all puffy ( “The U.S. picked the wrong target in playing this trick on China,” the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party, said in a commentary. )

Below: The Nimitz-class aircraft carriers USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) conduct dual aircraft carrier strike group operations in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific.

Prairie-Maskers Hard at Work. USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN- 76) Philippine Sea. June 2016. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jake Greenberg/Released).

“No other Navy can concentrate this much combat power on one sea or synchronize the activities of over 12,000 Sailors, 140 aircraft, six combatants and two carriers.” – Rear Adm. Marcus A. Hitchcock, commander of Carrier Strike Group 3

Which reminds me of this classic image from 1990:

Ten ships of Task Force 155 gather during Operation Desert Storm. Leading the formation at left is the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV 60), flanked by the guided missile cruisers USS San Jacinto (CG 56), top, and USS Thomas S. Gates (CG 51). At center is the nuclear-powered guided missile cruiser USS Mississippi (CGN 40) flanked by the aircraft carriers USS America (CV 66), top, and USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67). At rear are, from top, the guided missile destroyer USS Preble (DDG 46), the guided missile cruisers USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) and USS Normandy (CG 60) and the guided missile destroyer USS William V. Pratt (DDG 44).

Sadly, almost every single one of these ships in the 1990 image save for four are razor blades or reefs now. Only three of Ticos shown above are still in the active fleet (Gates, a non-VLS ship, was decommissioned 2005) while JFK is on red lead row pending possible museum donation.