Op-Ed: The strategic incoherence of our carrier policies
By: Rick Berger, American Enterprise Institute  
Standing on board the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, Vice President Mike Pence announced on April 30 that the White House reversed its earlier decision to retire the warship early by foregoing its midlife nuclear refueling.
This flip-flop torpedoed the Navy’s narrative that decommissioning was necessary to implement the 2018 National Defense Strategy’s pivot to great-power conflict with China and Russia.
Less than a week later, the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group cut short its deployment in the Mediterranean Sea to head for the Persian Gulf amid a botched attempt at strategic messaging vis a vis Iran.
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/05/14/op-ed-the-strategic-incoherence-of-our-carrier-policies/