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By Ryan Chan
China News Reporter
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Three U.S. Navy aircraft carriers remained underway in the Pacific Ocean this week while two others were undergoing a "carrier swap" on the West Coast of the United States.
One of China's "flat-tops" concluded its 10-day operations in waters beyond the first island chain, a series of strategic chokepoints connecting the U.S.-allied economies of Japan in Northeast Asia, Taiwan, and the Philippines in Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, the newest and most advanced aircraft carrier in the Chinese fleet was continuing its sea trials in China's coastal waters.
In northern Australia, an aircraft carrier deployed by NATO member Italy continued to take part in an international air exercise with its fifth-generation stealthy fighter jets.
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Aircraft carriers are major platforms used by countries to project sea power in support of national interests and foreign policy in their immediate region and beyond. The United States has the most aircraft carriers in the world with 11 in service, and China ranks second with three carriers launched.
Newsweek's weekly update maps U.S. and Chinese aircraft carrier movements in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. As of July 26, the locations of at least nine ships were publicly available via military disclosures or open-source satellite imagery.
U.S. Navy
USS Carl Vinson: Central Pacific Ocean
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Photos published by the U.S. Defense Department showed the Carl Vinson led a group that was sailing off the coast of Hawaii on Monday as part of the Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, the world's largest international maritime exercise, scheduled to end on August 1.
USS Abraham Lincoln: Eastern Pacific Ocean
Pentagon photographs showed the Abraham Lincoln was underway in the U.S. Third Fleet area of operations, in the Eastern Pacific, on July 18. USNI News, run by the U.S. Naval Institute, reported that the ship began a Pacific deployment on July 11.
USS Nimitz: Eastern Pacific Ocean
The lead ship of the 100,000-ton Nimitz-class supercarriers visited Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California, from July 18-22, according to ship spotters. Photos provided by the Navy showed it conducting flight operations in the Third Fleet area as of Tuesday.
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USS George Washington and USS Ronald Reagan: San Diego, California
The Navy said on Wednesday that both ships began a hull swap at Naval Air Station North Island. The George Washington will be forward-deployed in Japan for the second time, while the Ronald Reagan will head to Bremerton in Washington state for maintenance.
The Reagan arrived in San Diego on Tuesday after leaving Japan's Yokosuka naval base. The Washington has been pierside at North Island since July 10.
Notably, there are no U.S. aircraft carriers in the Western Pacific at this time, although substantial American sea power remains in the region.
People's Liberation Army Navy
CNS Shandong: South China Sea
The Joint Staff Office under Japan's Defense Ministry reported on July 19 that the Shandong and its carrier strike group transited westward from the Philippine Sea to the South China Sea the previous day.
The carrier strike group had been operating in the Philippine Sea, part of the Western Pacific, since July 9. Japan, a U.S. security treaty ally, said its forces detected 420 aircraft takeoffs and landings from the carrier in 10 days, according to the Joint Staff Office.
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CNS Fujian: Yellow Sea
Open-source satellite imagery captured on Sunday showed the Fujian undergoing sea trials in the Yellow Sea off northeastern China. China's most advanced flat-top departed a shipyard in Shanghai earlier this month was still conducting tests in the Bohai Sea last week.
CNS Liaoning: Qingdao, Shandong
The country's first operational aircraft carrier, the Soviet-made Liaoning, was still pierside on Thursday at its home base in Qingdao, a Chinese port city facing the Yellow Sea, according to satellite photos.
Italian Navy
ITS Cavour: Australia
Photos published by the Australian Defense Department on Wednesday showed the Italian aircraft carrier ITS Cavour conducting flight operations with F-35B Lightning II fighter aircraft during exercise Pitch Black.
Pitch Black 24, a multinational air drill hosted by the Australian air force, is being conducted primarily in the country's Northern Territory. The Cavour will stay at Darwin from July 9 to August 5, according to Italy's embassy in Canberra.
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