Four Carrier Strike Groups To Return From Summer Pulse ’04

After successfully demonstrating responsive, credible combat power across the globe by operating in five theaters with other U.S., allied and coalition military forces, four carrier strike groups (CSGs), including their associated ships, submarines, aircraft and more than 20,000 Sailors, are returning July 22 through July 26. These include forces from USS George Washington (CVN 73) (GW), USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), and USS Enterprise (CVN 65) CSGs. USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) is pulling into its new home port of San Diego over this same period. These arrivals come after the concurrent deployments of seven CSGs in “Summer Pulse '04,” the Navy’s first exercise of its new operational construct, the Fleet Response Plan (FRP). Summer Pulse ‘04 exercised the logistics and shore infrastructure necessary to execute a large scale surge operation and stressed the operational concepts in the Navy’s Sea Power 21 strategy. It also served to strengthen maritime capabilities by improving Navy interoperability with more than 23 allies and coalition partners, as well as other U.S. military forces. U.S. Navy ships and aircraft participated in more than 13 exercises in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Arabian, Baltic, Mediterranean, North and Red Seas, and the Sea of Japan and Persian Gulf. Since Summer Pulse ’04 began June 3, the Navy exercised a full range of skills in all maritime warfare areas, including but not limited to surface, air, subsurface, and amphibious warfare, while simultaneously deploying and employing CSGs around the world. Summer Pulse ‘04 included scheduled deployments, surge operations, joint and international exercises, and other advanced training and port visits. The George Washington CSG, which was already deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) when Summer Pulse ’04 kicked off, will be returning from a six-month deployment. The GW/Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7 team conducted 7,592 sorties, including more than 1,500 flown in direct support of OIF. Additionally, USS Vella Gulf (CG 72), USS Bulkeley (DDG 84), and HMCS Toronto (FFH 333) participated in the boarding process of more than 200 vessels during maritime interdiction operations in the Persian Gulf. Under the FRP construct, the Navy can provide six CSGs in less than 30 days to support contingency operations around the globe, and two more CSGs can be ready in three months to reinforce or rotate with initially responding forces, to continue presence operations in other parts of the world, or to support military action in another crisis. Source: NAVNewswire