U.S. carrier patrols off Korean peninsula in warning to Pyongyang

Source: Reuters




OCTOBER 19, 2017 / 6:08 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Tim Kelly

ABOARD USS RONALD REAGAN, Sea of Japan (Reuters) - The USS Ronald Reagan, a 100,000-ton nuclear powered aircraft carrier, patrolled in waters east of the Korean peninsula on Thursday, in a show of sea and air power designed to warn off North Korea from any military action.

The U.S. Navy’s biggest warship in Asia, with a crew of 5,000 sailors, sailed around 100 miles (160.93 km), launching almost 90 F-18 Super Hornet sorties from its deck, in sight of South Korean islands.

It is conducting drills with the South Korean navy involving 40 warships deployed in a line stretching from the Yellow Sea west of the peninsula into the Sea of Japan.

“The dangerous and aggressive behavior by North Korea concerns everybody in the world,” Rear Admiral Marc Dalton, commander of the Reagan’s strike group, said in the carrier’s hangar as war planes taxied on the flight deck above. “We have made it clear with this exercise, and many others, that we are ready to defend the Republic of Korea.”

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-usa-carrier/u-s-carrier-patrols-off-korean-peninsula-in-warning-to-pyongyang-idUSKBN1CO1AH?il=0