Looks like something is up!

[Shammu]

Something is going on in the Pacific Ocean.

Status of the US Navy, as of May 19, 2005.

Navy Personnel
Active Duty: 364,406

    * Officers: 53,257
    * Enlisted: 306,918

Midshipmen: 4,231    Ready Reserve: 141,969 [As of 30 Apr.]

    * Selected Reserves: 77,563
    * Individual Ready Reserve: 64,406

Reserves currently mobilized: 3,574 [as of 18 May]

Personnel on deployment: 40,557
Navy Department Civilian Employees: 176,447

Ships and Submarines
Deployable Battle Force Ships: 288

Ships Underway (away from homeport): 156 (54% of total)
On deployment: 102 ships (35% of total)

Ships Underway

Carriers:
USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) - Pacific Ocean
USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) - port visit, Boston, Mass.
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) - port visit, Pearl Harbor
USS Dwight D. Eisnehower (CVN 69) - Atlantic Ocean
USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) - Persian Gulf
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) - Atlantic Ocean
USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) - Pacific Ocean

Command Ships:
USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) - Pacific Ocean
USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) - Mediterranean Sea

Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG)
[15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) (SOC)]
USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) - Coral Sea
USS Duluth (LPD 6) - Coral Sea
USS Rushmore (LSD 47) - Coral Sea

Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG)
[26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) (SOC)]
USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) - Persian Gulf
USS Ponce (LPD 15) - Persian Gulf
USS Ashland (LSD 48) - Persian Gulf

Amphibious Ships:
USS Tarawa (LHA 1) - Pacific Ocean
USS Nassau (LHA 4) - Gulf of Mexico
USS Boxer (LHD 4) - East China Sea
USS Belleau Wood (LHD 6) - Pacific Ocean
USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) - Atlantic Ocean
USS Austin (LPD 4) - port visit, St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.
USS Ogden (LPD 5) - Pacific Ocean
USS Cleveland (LPD 7) - Pacific Ocean
USS Shreveport (LPD 12) - Atlantic Ocean
USS Fort McHenry (LSD 43) - Pacific Ocean
USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) - port visit, San Juan, P.R.
USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52) - Pacific Ocean

Aircraft (operational): 4,000+
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/news/.www/status.html

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I wonder if this has anything to do with North Korea. These numbers seem high to me.

Resting in the embrace of the Lord.
Bob

Ecclesiastes 3:5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

[Soldier4Christ]

DW,

This reminds me of the "Cold War" which is supposedly over. It could be a "show of force" which is a tactic used quite often during the Cold War. I have not found or heard any info on this as of yet (keeping my ear to the "waves") but the Navy would sometimes concentrate their forces in a certain area in order to show the other governments we meant business. A ploy to put a little pressure on them. It always seemed to work quite well.

There are some exercises going on right now in the Pacific and the Mediterranean areas. These exercises are done routinely to keep our Sailors and Ships trained and at the ready.

The one exercise is a NATO exercise called Allied Action 05.

What I found interesting was that the Israel Navy joined in a NATO exercise back in March. NATO exercises operate regularly in the Mediterranean but this one was conducted in the Red Sea.

[Soldier4Christ]

Some more information on the Navy.

There is a deployment of ships that are going to Southeast Asia in support of Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT). These ships will train with numerous Southeast Asian navies to foster relations in support of the global war on terrorism. CARAT takes place in six Southeast Asian nations every summer.

This is a training exercise that has taken place every summer since at least 1997 (maybe before).