The USS Nimitz, USS Ronald Reagan, and USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike groups are
in the 7th fleet's area of operations AOO, which ranges from the international date line
to the western Indian Ocean—a large swathe of the earth's oceans. This kind of convergence
of three super carriers is unprecedented.
Observers suggested that the rare convergence of three carrier strike groups in the region
would send a strong message to North Korea, which has launched twenty ballistic missiles
to date in 2017 and tested one presumably thermonuclear device. The convergence also
comes just days before U.S. President Donald Trump will depart to East and Southeast Asia
on his first trip to the region.It will also serve to reassure allies.
It must be noted that each of these ships lead their own Carrier Strike Group.
Each of the 3-strike group has at least one cruiser, a destroyer squadron of at least
two destroyers and or frigates, as well as nuclear powered submarine. Apart from that,
multiple Logistic ships and AWACS support them.
In this video, Defense Updates looks at the 3 most important components of the strike
group, namely the Carrier itself, the Destroyers, & the Submarines one by one, and analyzes
how powerful the combined force of 3 carriers strike group is?
All the 3 ships are of NIMITZ class.
The Nimitz-class supercarriers are a class of 10 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in
service with the United States Navy. The lead ship of the class is named for World War II
United States Pacific Fleet commander Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.
Nimitz-class aircraft carriers were designed to be improvements on previous U.S. aircraft
carriers, in particular the Enterprise and Forrestal-class.
Nimitz CVN-68 was commissioned on 3 May 1975, Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) on12 July 2003 & USS
Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) on 25 October 1986
Nimitz-class ships each cost around $4.5 billion and have been the symbol of U.S power. They
have been used to project power far off from US mainland.
All 10 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers were constructed between 1968 and 2006 at Newport
News Shipbuilding Company, Virginia, in the largest dry-dock in the western hemisphere.
These are some of the largest vessels constructed. All the 3 ships have a displacement of around
100000 tons, and overall length of 332.8 m (1,092 feet). To give viewers a perspective,
it is about 3 football fields long.
Each of this ship is powered by two A4W nuclear reactors, kept in separate compartments.
These power 4 propeller shafts and can produce a maximum speed of over 30 knots or 56 km/h.
As a result of the use of nuclear power, the ships are capable of operating continuously
for over 20 years without refueling, and are predicted to have a service life of over 50
years. Practically they have unlimited range.
All of these 3 super carriers have a flight group of more than 60 aircraft, including
F-18 jet fighters. These are twin-engine, supersonic, all-weather
carrier-capable 4th generation multirole fighter aircrafts.
They have a payload of 7700 kg (17000 lbs), and can carry ground attack weapons as well
as air-to-air missiles.
Nimitz class possesses multitude of different radars including electronically scanned array
3D radars. It is equipped with 16 to 24 RIM-7 Sea Sparrow
or NATO Sea Sparrow missiles. RIM-7 Sea Sparrow is a US ship-borne short-range anti-aircraft
and anti-missile weapon system, primarily intended for defense against anti-ship missiles.
Close in weapon (CIWS) duties are performed by Phalanx, & RIM-116 Rolling Airframe missile.
The Destroyer component of the Carrier Strike Group generally contains 1 or 2 Arleigh Burke-class
guided missile destroyers. The class is named for ADMIRAL ARLEIGH BURKE,
the most famous American destroyer officer of World War II, and later Chief of Naval
Operations. US Navy has 66 of these, each costing around
$1.843 billion.
Arleigh Burke-class warships are designed as multi mission destroyers capable of Anti
Aircraft Warfare (AAW), Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW), Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) and
Anti Surface warfare (ASuW). These can operate in open sea or coastal waters.
Arleigh Burke class destroyers are among the largest destroyers in the world.
They have an overall length of about 505 to 509 feet (154 to 155 m) and displacement of
about 9,200 tons.
They have a speed of 30+ knots (55+ km/h) and range of 4,400 nmi (8,100 km).
The Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers (DDGs) is the United States Navy's
first class of destroyer built around the Aegis Combat System.
The Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System is a US Department of Defense Missile Defense
Agency program developed to provide defense against short to intermediate-range ballistic
missiles. Aegis BMD is designed to intercept ballistic missiles post-boost phase and prior
to reentry.
It enables Arleigh Burke destroyers to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles by expanding
the Aegis Combat System with the addition of the AN/SPY-1 radar and Standard missile
technologies. SM-3 missile having range of 2,500 km & speed of Mach 10.2 is expected
to be particularly effective.
Arleigh Burke class destroyers are one of the most heavily armed destroyers in the world
and are designed to be a multi weapons platform:
They have 96 cell Mk 41 VLS, which can be configured with the combination of different
weapons, based on mission. Here are some important once.
1.Tomahawk cruise missile for Land attack 2.RIM-66M Standard medium range SAM for air
defense 3.RIM-161 Standard Ballistic missile for AEGIS
ballistic missile defense
It also has 2 × Mk 141 Harpoon Missile Launcher for Anti Ship role.
2 × Mark 32 triple torpedo tubes are present for launching Mk-46 or Mk-50 torpedoes
2 MH-60R Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters are also present for Anti Submarine Warfare.
Other than these, they are equipped with long-range naval gun and multiple Close In Weapon System.
The VIRGINIA CLASS, also known as the SSN-774 class, is a class of nuclear-powered fast
attack submarines (hull classification symbol SSN) in service with the United States Navy.
The submarines are designed for a broad spectrum of open-ocean and littoral (shallow coastal
water) missions. US Navy has 13 of these and also building
another 6. The of these cost around $1.8 billions.
These have length of 377 ft (115 m) and displacement of around 7,900 metric tons
Being nuclear powered, these can stay underneath the ocean surface for an unlimited amount
of time, constrained by only food supply and maintenance requirements.
Powered by 30 MW, S9G reactor, these submarines can reach speed of 25 knots and can move down
to depths of 800 ft (240 m).
Virginia class is designed to take out enemy surface vessel, submarines as well can strike
ground targets
12 VLS & four torpedo tubes, capable of launching Mark 48 torpedoes, UGM-109 Tactical Tomahawks,
Harpoon missile.
Mark 48 torpedoes have effective firing range of 38 km, and have a 650 lb warhead. A single
hit fro this torpedo can be deadly for any ship or submarine.
The Tomahawk is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic missile that is used for land-based
attacks. At 5.56 m long without a booster, traveling
at 880 km per hour, it is capable of delivering more than 450 kilograms of conventional explosives.
Harpoon missile having speed of 537 miles per hours, and range of around 120 km plays
the role of anti ship missile.
The combined force of 3-carrier strike group will have around 200 F 18 Super Hornet strike
aircrafts. The MiG-29 is the K P A F's most modern fighter and North Korea operates approximately
40 of these. F 18 strike aircrafts equipped with modern
air-to-air missile and coupled with US fighter pilot's better training and strategy will
be able to take out the North Korean air force in few hours.
North Korea has no Destroyers and has very few Frigates and Corvettes. The vessels are
no match for the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
The North Korean military is in possession of a fleet of about 70 submarines, comprised
of approximately 20 Romeo class submarines (1,800 tons), 40 Sang-O class submarines (300
tons) and 10 Yono class submarines (130 tons).
These submarines being small and fairly silent have the potential to sneak in close to US
Carrier Strike Group. But given the Carrier Strike Group will have cover from P-8 Poseidon
Anti Submarine aircraft, apart from its own submarine and Anti submarine warfare capable
Arleigh Burke-class, chances of North Korean vessels causing major damage is unlikely.
In simple terms, the 3 carrier strike group has more than enough capability to decimate
the North Korean military in few days.
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