3 U.S. Aircraft Carriers Now Operating the in the Pacific

When the COVID-19 pandemic began to threaten the United States, the U.S. Navy raced to adjust its procedures to prevent the disease’s spread and respond to a number of major outbreaks on its warships, most seriously on the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt. China promoted a narrative that the pandemic left the United States unable to project power in the same way in the western Pacific, but the U.S. Navy adjusted plans quickly to maintain a consistent presence in the region.

When it became clear that coronavirus cases on the Theodore Roosevelt were cascading out of control, the ship pulled into Guam for a previously scheduled port visit to evaluate future steps.

Controversy over how seriously to take the outbreak led to the public firing of the ship’s captain and controversy over the handling of that decision forced the acting secretary of the navy to resign. The Theodore Roosevelt got underway again to continue its deployment at the beginning of June after spending two months pier-side to evaluate and treat infected crew.

The Theodore Roosevelt’s sidelining in Guam left the western Pacific with no carriers on patrol. The USS Ronald Reagan, an aircraft carrier permanently based in Yokosuka, Japan, was in the middle of a five-month maintenance and repair period when the Theodore Roosevelt’s coronavirus outbreak struck, emerging again in early May.

Chinese state media reported on the growing spread of the virus around the U.S. fleet and quoted experts claiming that the U.S. Navy’s ability to “wage war had greatly declined” because of the pandemic.

But as of early June there are now three U.S. carriers deployed in the Pacific, the Theodore Roosevelt and the Ronald Reagan in the western Pacific and the USS Nimitz is at the beginning of its deployment in the eastern Pacific and likely to proceed west.

The last time that the United States operated three deployed aircraft carriers in the Pacific was in 2017, when the same three carriers, Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, and Nimitz, conducted a massive drill together amid tensions with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program.

During the two months that there was no U.S. carrier presence in the Western Pacific, the U.S. Navy strove to maintain a brisk pace of operations and robust presence around the South China Sea with other vessels.

Early on, the Pacific Fleet sent an unusual message publicizing that all four of its forward-deployed submarines based in Guam were at sea conducting “contingency response operations” during the coronavirus outbreak. The normally secretive submarine force rarely advertises its operations and the announcement that the submarines were underway for contingencies appeared targeted to assure partners in the region and demonstrate to China that it could still surge potent combat power if required.

Elsewhere, U.S. warships transited through the Taiwan Strait at the end of March, April, mid-May, and the beginning of June. In April, the USS Barry conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the Paracel Islands followed quickly by a FONOP by the USS Bunker Hill in the Spratly Islands. The USS Mustin conducted another Paracel Islands FONOP at the end of May.

The United States made even more overt demonstrations against Chinese coercion during a standoff between China and Malaysia over the exploration of potential natural gas fields in the South China Sea earlier this year. The U.S. Navy sent two separate flotillas to the vicinity of the standoff, a group of Littoral Combat Ships in May, and a more powerful Expeditionary Strike Group centered around the USS America in April.

The America is considered an amphibious assault ship in the U.S. Navy, but with 20 advanced F-35 fighter aircraft aboard, it would be considered an aircraft carrier in its own right by most other world navies.

Now that the United States’ traditional carrier presence in the region is restored, China is responding with rhetorical reminders of its advanced ballistic missiles claimed to be able to target moving ships at sea from long ranges, even though these systems have never inhibited the U.S. Navy’s peacetime presence in the region.