The Nimitz battle group's share in Asia ... without the Nimitz

Four destroyer escorts USS Nimitz were paired on Monday the United States on a mission of several months in the Asia / Pacific region. Departure without their flagship, the deployment of the aircraft carrier has been postponed due to a technical problem requiring a decision. Despite the unavailability of CVN 68, the U.S. Navy has decided to maintain the deployment of a naval task force, for the time being articulated around the guided-missile destroyers USS Higgins (DDG 76), USS Stockdale (DDG 106) and USS William P . Lawrence (DDG 110), based in San Diego, which will join the USS Shoup (DDG 86), based in Everett. Armed sailors by 1200, these buildings form the Surface Action Group (SAG) of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 11.

The unscheduled stop Nimitz, who will nail the ship in port for several months, has forced the U.S. Navy to change the schedule of deployment of its carrier. Thus, the mission of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf region was cut short end of 2012 so that the building can go two months in the United States (it is returned to its base in Norfolk in December) before returning to the Middle East, where he originally scheduled to be replaced in early 2013 by the Nimitz.

This cut can get the boat level and offers the crew the opportunity to blow the middle of a mission that will last, in the end, some 10 months.