USS Stennis arrives off Gulf coast, Iran launches War Games

[TomSea]

USS Stennis arrives off Gulf coast, Iran launches War Games

A U.S. aircraft carrier sailed into the Gulf on Friday, becoming the first since America's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in May and breaking the longest carrier absence in the volatile region since at least the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The arrival of the USS John C. Stennis comes as Iranian officials have returned to repeatedly threatening to close off the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Gulf through which a third of all oil traded by sea passes. Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels shadowed the Stennis and its strike group, at one point launching rockets away from it and flying a drone nearby.

The long absence of a carrier, however, could become a standard practice here as now-outgoing Defense Secretary Jim Mattis sought to shake up naval operations and American air bases spanning the region can scramble fighter jets and drones.

"We are trying to be more operationally unpredictable," said Lt. Chloe Morgan, a spokeswoman for U.S.' Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. "Now we're switching it up because our adversaries are watching closely. We want to be operationally unpredictable to our enemies, but strategically predictable to our partners."

Read more at: https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2018/12/22/US-Stennis-arrives-off-coast-Iran-launches-War-Games.html

[rangerrebew]

U.S. Aircraft Carrier Arrives In Persian Gulf, Shadowed By Iranian Boats
December 21, 2018 20:40 GMT
 
 
A U.S. aircraft carrier has sailed into the Persian Gulf, becoming the first in the region since President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal earlier this year.

The December 21 arrival of the USS John C. Stennis came amid repeated threats by Iranian officials to close off the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the gulf and the only outlet through which all ship traffic passes.

https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-aircraft-carrier-arrives-in-persian-gulf-shadowed-by-iranian-boats/29669954.html

[rangerrebew]

My experience in 1976 aboard the USS Ranger, when Israel had a plane hijacked to Entebbe, Uganada, would suggest each of their overglorified water ski pulling boats had a destroyer not far behind it.  The Russians sent a battle group to greet us and that is exactly what happened to each of their ships and I assume the same greeting was given the Iranian "ships."