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Aircraft carrier Reagan to deploy again just 6 months after return

sayyyyy that's another asset freed up in the region...hmmm
Barely six months after returning from its maiden deployment, the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan will leave its Coronado pier within weeks for a cruise in the western Pacific Ocean. Two Navy spokesmen said the Reagan probably will spend several months filling in for the Kitty Hawk, the Japan-based carrier that is unavailable because it's undergoing routine maintenance. The sources requested anonymity because Pentagon policy forbids them from providing such information before an official announcement.
Said source should be court-martialed.
The Reagan's unexpected deployment is an indirect result of President Bush's new decision to station a second carrier strike group in the Persian Gulf, the spokesmen said. The Reagan will fulfill patrol duties in the western Pacific in place of the John C. Stennis Carrier Strike Group, which Bush sent to the Persian Gulf as added muscle to supplement the strike group of the Virginia-based carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The Stennis strike group – which includes three aviation squadrons from San Diego as well as the San Diego-based cruiser Antietam, destroyer Preble and frigate Rentz – was scheduled for a routine cruise in the western Pacific.

The date of the Reagan's departure hasn't been set, but its crew is expected to receive deployment orders within a week, the spokesmen said. The tour is expected to last a few months. The ship likely will deploy without its carrier air wing or escort ships, relying for support instead on vessels and aircraft already stationed in Japan.

The Reagan, commissioned in 2003, arrived in San Diego the following year and completed its maiden deployment in July. Its crew members aren't the only locally stationed sailors affected by Bush's planned military buildup in Iraq and the Persian Gulf. On Friday, the Navy confirmed that possibly all ships in the San Diego-based Boxer Strike Group will remain in the gulf for up to 60 additional days.

The amphibious assault ship Boxer and its five escorts – the amphibious ships Dubuque and Comstock, the destroyers Benfold and Howard, and the cruiser Bunker Hill – left San Diego on Sept. 13. Those vessels carried about 6,000 troops, including 2,200 Marines of the Camp Pendleton-based 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

The contingent was supposed to return to San Diego in March. On Thursday, the Pentagon ordered the 15th MEU to stay an extra 45 days in Iraq. Navy officials said the Boxer, Dubuque and Comstock definitely will be extended to bring the Marines home, while the Benfold, Howard and Bunker Hill will likely stay longer as well.
Posted by: Frank G 2007-01-13
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=177674