Read it again. It said many exercises.
Actually, pirate’s post is not far off. Could be a minimum of 5 CSGs in the Pacific, + 1 Tarawa Assault ship (Belleau Wood) and assorted amphib ships in the Pacific ex, no doubt sending a message to China.
According to pirate’s post, the USS Carl Vinson, Abraham Lincoln, John C Stennis and Kitty Hawk are in the Pacific, and according to the JNI article link, I would say the Ronald Reagan may be joining as well.
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Date Posted: 18-Jun-2004
JANE’S NAVY INTERNATIONAL – JULY 01, 2004
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USN stretches to show new reach
Nick Brown
The US Navy (USN) has deployed seven carrier strike groups (CSGs), constituting the majority of the service’s surface combat power, to participate in an exercise entitled ‘Summer Pulse 04’ and demonstrate the first application of the USN’s new Fleet Response Plan (FRP) operational concept.
Under the FRP, the navy is committed to having six CSGs able to deploy across the world in under 30 days, with two more on 90 days’ notice to reinforce the deployed strike groups or rotate with them and ensure support and coverage of emergent crises elsewhere. To enable this increased readiness and bolster the USN’s surge capabilities, the FRP has instigated new manning and training schedules, with lean manned ships and overmanned crews to provide greater availability.
Traditionally, regular rotations of crews and ships on deployment to meet the Global Naval Forward Presence Policy resulted in a flat spot in availability, where the majority of USN ships were not deployed or at peak availability in their cycle: surging them to readiness was consequently difficult and expensive. The FRP was intended to meet the requirements to improve this surge capability to defeat enemy forces in overlapping conflicts, as set out in the 2001 US Quadrennial Defense Review.
‘Summer Pulse 04’ puts all of this work to the test, deploying seven CSGs in five theatres, operating jointly with other US forces and allied forces. These CSGs are: USS George Washington, USS John Stennis and USS Kitty Hawk, all of which were already on deployment when the exercise began on 2 June 2004. USS John F Kennedy initiated a joint exercise from Florida in early June with the intention of transitioning to an overseas deployment, and USS Harry S Truman was scheduled to conduct its own training exercise from Norfolk, Virginia before a pulse deployment to join up and continue exercising with the USS Enterprise CSG. The seventh CSG centres on the USN’s newest aircraft carrier, USS Ronald Reagan, which is scheduled to exercise with the US Northern and Southern Commands during its transfer from Norfolk to its new Pacific Fleet new homeport in San Diego.
The CSGs will include a full range of supporting craft, including cruisers, escort destroyers, frigates, attack submarines and replenishment vessels. Where appropriate, they will also comprise amphibious vessels: for example, the Stennis CSG in the western Pacific includes the Taraw-class assault ship USS Belleau Wood, the Austin-class LPD USS Denver and the Whidbey Island-class LSD USS Comstock.
‘Summer Pulse 04’ is scheduled for completion by the end of the August.
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