The Navy’s Triple-Carrier Pacific Deployment Was an Accident, Not a Power Play

The greatest concentration of American naval power in a decade is an accident of scheduling and navigation, according to the U.S. Navy.

But the coincidental convergence of three nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and their warplanes and escort ships on the Pacific Ocean in early November lends military heft to President Donald Trump’s escalating war of words with North Korea.

The carriers USS Ronald Reagan, USS Nimitz, and USS Theodore Roosevelt, plus their nearly 200 warplanes and roughly 20 escorting cruisers, destroyers, and submarines, are due to converge in the Western Pacific on Nov. 11 for a three-day war game.

The last time three American flattops met was in 2007.

“It is a rare opportunity to train with two aircraft carriers together, and even rarer to be able to train with three,” said Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

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