USS Carl Vinson.... Help needed by any member!

reply to post by schuyler


Hey Schuyler.. I've been following this thread for a couple of months now and it has become one of my 'must check' threads anytime I get onto the site. Really interesting to hear about all the deployments and journeys these ships undertake. And like yourself, I didn't get to see those two posts from the OP but I think there could still be a little bit of anger there! Keep up the good work.

reply to post by cahlmac


Hey, thanks. I apprecaite it. yeah, I was told by a mod that those posts were full of hate and vitriol. I just don't understand why. This guy is nearly my age. His grandaughter's boyfriend is safe. I would think that would be GOOD news. I know many people who have been on these cruises. It's a hard haul for anyone to get stuck for 8 months on a ship. Subs are the worst. You don't even know where you are.

This week the US Navy is pretty much in the same place as last week. The Boxer Amphibious Ready Group is in the Arabian Gulf having effectively replaced the Kearsarge. The Bataan is half way across the Atlantic intent on replacing the Kearsarge in the Med. The Washington and the Reagan are both still off Japan. The Stennis had a terrible accident last week when an engine of an F-18 blew up just prior to take-off. No one was killed, but eleven people were injured, some seriously. One of our destroyers fired upon and disabled a Libyan coast guard vessel that was firing on merchant ships.

Over two dozen naval vessels from Europe and Turkey are deployed off Libya at the moment. The US has likely less than a dozen.

I thought I would take a little time to discuss a Carrier Air Wing this time. This is composed of four F/A-18 Hornet squadrons composed of about 12 planes each. One of these is usually a Marine squadron. The Wing includes an S-3B Viking squadron. These planes are very versatile and can act as tankers, surveillance, electronic counter-measures, or just plain cargo planes. The sixth squadron is an E-2C Hawkeye squadron. These have the giant radar dome atop them. They act as command and control and early warning aircraft. The next squadron is EA-6B Prowlers. These guys do electronics countermeasures. The last squadron is a helicopter squadron. So a CVN carrier has 8 squadrons on board, a few aircraft less than 100.

You can tell what kind of aircraft it is by the designator in the following table:

F = Fighter, i.e.: Air to Air
A = Attack, i.e.: Air to Ground
E = Electronic
H = Helicopter
S = Anti-submarine
K = Tanker
C = Cargo
B = Bomber

These are the basics, but not a complete list. You can see that some aircraft have more than one designator. An F/A-18 Hornet is used both as a fighter and an air to ground attack aircraft where an "A-10 Warthog" is a ground attack aircraft only. An EA-6B Prowler is used for electronics countermeasures and an attack aircraft.

I haven't posted here is a couple of weeks because not much has happened. But the big news this week is that the USS Carl Vinson was the recipient of the body of Osama bin Laden where he was susbequently buried at sea. I don't really care to address whether that SHOULD have happened or not, but for purposes of this Carl Vinson thread I thought it was noteworthy.

Things have gone pretty much as expected. The Bataan has joined the Kearsarge in the Med, though neither seems to be doing much off Libya. Everyone else is kind of paddling in place.

The John Stennis just left Bremerton for its last work-up before they head to the 5th fleet AOR to relieve the Vinson. Remember that this was the stage where this thread started when the OP asked for information on the whereabouts of the Vinson. The work-up is called a COMPUTEX, or "Composite Unit Training Exercise" where the carrier pals around with its fellow strike group ships for a couple of weeks, in this case off San Diego.

Oh, and it was Navy Seals that performed the bin Laden operation.

For this week the USS Kearsarge Amphibious Ready Group has left the Med and is in the middle of the Atlantic headed home to Norfolk. The Ronal Reagan is headed for a port visit in Thailand after assisting in recuse efforts for the Japanese Tsunami.

It was too late to edit my last post, but Osama bin Laden's burial at sea off the Carl Vinson was also a 'what goes around comes around' moment. The Vinson was the first carrier on station off Afghanistan when the US went after the Taliban after 9/11.It was stationed in Bremerton at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard at the time. I was there on the shore for the welcome home party. You get to Bremerton via Rich Passage, which is a somewhat narrow and shallow area where the carriers can only come in on high tide. People were lined up on shore for several miles on either side waving American flags. Hundreds of small craft accompanied the giant ship, including a fireboat spraying water into the air. The carrier would blast its horn in acknowledgement avery minute or so.

For the sailors manning the rails it must have been an incredible experience. I'm of the Vietnam era when vets came home to thrown bottles and taunts. THIS homecoming was nothing like that. That Osama was tossed off the Vinson (with way too much ceremony, IMO) is a fitting end.

Good Lord! I leave town for a week and that's when the Vinson moves out of the Gulf. I took a four day defensive handgunb course at Frontsight in nevada. The Vinson is now in the Phillipines in the 7th fleet AOR. Further, the George HW Bush has left on its first deployment and is headed East, reportedly for the med AND the Gulf. It could join the Enterprise as the second carrier in that region to relieve the Vinson.

So, viril, it looks like the Vinson is headed home and will be back in San Diego in a few weeks. No Korean War. No secret missions. No dead sailors. I'm sure your granddaughter will be very happy to know the Vinson is coming home. Of course, her boyfriend has some 'splainin' to do about all those secret suicide missions.

Next time the Vinson deploys, don't be so hasty to drink the Kool Aid. Check here first and accept the fact that you can get the straight scoop here, not from an E-3 squid who doesn't know what he is talking about.

Surprise! The Ronald Reagan is now in the Arabian Gulf alongside the Enterprise Strike Group! It snuck over from Indonesia this past week. That begs the question of what the GHW Bush is doing in the Atlantic, apparently steaming toward the Med. The claim is that it will support the 5th and 6th fleets (Arabian Gulf and the Med, respectively), so perhaps it's about time for the Enterprise to head on back.

The Carl Vinson just finished a port visit to Manila where it entertained the Phillipines President and is in the Phillipine Sea. It's possible it could now head North to Japan and Korea, but I'm thinking it's about to head for San Diego. We'll know for certain next week.

Homecoming for the Kerasarge Amphibious Group. It returned to Norfolk on May 16th.

127 out of 286 ships are now deployed. 59,699 personnel are now at sea out of 327,996 active duty personnel.

The Vinson is in Hong Kong for a port visit. The guys finally get to get off the boat. US sailors and Hong Kong go back a long way. It is THE place top go for a custom-fit suit!

The Bush is off the coast of Spain for a joing exercise with forces from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, Canada and Spain in Operfation Saxon Warrior 11. When this is finished I expect the Bush to head into the Med and through the Suez to relieve the Enterprise in the Arabian Gulf.

Originally posted by VrilOrder
Is there anyone here at ATS that can tell me if they know where the Carl Vinson Carrier is at this time. It's destination was Korea. It's important to know how long before it reaches it's destination. I'm sure someone knows. If you feel uncomfortable saying in a post please contact me via Private messages.

This is extremely important to me and my family. I would appreciate any help. The ship is accompanied by escort ships. I don't need a lot of detail just an approximation of where it might be at this time.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/40708f23bd2c.gif[/atsimg]

OP knows what he's doing.

You could damn near take out a site like this by posting the answer he wants.

Originally posted by Signals
OP knows what he's doing.

You could damn near take out a site like this by posting the answer he wants.

I'm afraid I don't follow your reasoning. The "answer he wanted" wasn't the truth. He was apparently convinced of a conspiracy that did not exist. Have you actually read through this thread? Let me summarize what happened here for you. OP is a grandfather. His granddaughter has a boyfriend who is a sailor aboard the Vinson. The kid told the girl (confidentially, of course) that he was going on a secret mission to North Korea and that a war was about to start and he might never see this girl again. OP came on here wanting 'help from any member' to confirm this.

I just happened to know at the time where the Vinson was and where it was going, so I was happy to tell him, but OP did not like the answer. You can see the gist of his reaction in several of his posts that were removed for T&C violations. I believe he has minus 2000 points or so, another testimony to his reaction. He edited some of his posts as well, so you don't have the entire picture here.

Why a man his age reacted like this is anyone's guess. Of course, it may be somewhat embarrassing to be duped by a kid using a line that must be thousands of years old, but he also could have laughed at it, so I don't really know. I do know that the Vinson went where I said it would go, performed the mission I said it would perform, and is taking its own sweet time getting back to San Diego.

Now you are suggesting this is all "psy ops"??? Not only that, another false answer would have taken down this site??? I just don't see it. Every day people come on here and spout the most incredible conspiracies, from chemtrails to NWO nonsense to reptilian overlords. It's constant, infinitely repetitive, and largely laughable.

The truth here is that the Vinson WASN'T going on a secret mission to North Korea, WASN'T going to start a war with China, and WASN'T about to get itself blown out of the water. Instead it went on a completely routine and publicized mission to the Arabian Gulf. In a couple of weeks about 5,000 sailors will be coming off the ship and be able to tell you just that. There is no need for histionics here, no need for gnashing of teeth, no worries that an answer different than the truth would be harmful to this site. The fact is, nothing bad happened. I know it can be a drag when that happens, but that's what happened this time.

reply to post by schuyler


So, basically what you're saying is I should have read the thread first?

You're right!

The OP totally reads like a fishing mission, I stand corrected.

Looks to me like the Vinson is awfully close to Guam this week. The GHW Bush, who some thought would be in the Med by now off Libya, is instead closer to London, though officially it is tasked to the 5th and 6th fleets (Arabian Gulf and Europe, respectively)

This week finds the USS Carl Vinson on a port visit to Pearl Harbor. Wonder if granddaughter flew out to meet her swabby or whether she'll wait another few days for the Vinson to return to San Diego. We will be having a celebration here when that happens.

Meanwhile the GHW Bush is visting cartagena, Spain, so it finally entered the Mediterranean Sea. My guess is it will transit the Suez in a bit. It may park off the shores of Libya, though it seems a bit late for that eventuality. Perhaps it will do a little drive by shooting at whatever is left by the time it gets there.

The John Stennis is "conducting operations" in the Pacific Ocean. It appears to be off San Diego, just about where the Vinson was when this thread started back in December. The Peliliu, an Amphibious Ready Group is also "conducting operations" in the Pacific near San Diego. No word on what either of these two groups is up to.

The USS Carl Vinson sailed into San Diego this morning, the end of a seven month deployment that began last December.

Contrary to the predictions of our erstwhile OP, VirilOrder, grandfather to a young woman whose boyfriend is stationed aboard the Vinson, the carrier did not start a war with North Korea, did not engage in a secret mission in the China Sea, and did not endure any casualties while on patrol.

The Vinson did bury Osama bin Laden at sea, a noticeable accomplishment and a claim to fame, but in other respects the Vinson did EXACTLY what I said it was going to do seven months ago. The Vinson went where I said it would go pretty much when I said it would. I stand completely vindicated while Gramps struggles with negative points because of his outrageous posts on the issue. If he is not chagrined by this he certainly should be.

But it's all turned out good and perhaps Gramps can take solace now that his grandaughter and her beloved are reunited.