As the biennial exercise Rim of the Pacific continues off the coast of Hawaii, the U.S. Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 1 has been practicing flight operations from its flagship the USS Carl Vinson.
Throughout last week a revolving door of dignitaries ranging from U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda to admirals from Canada and Mexico were ferried to the ship aboard V-22 Osprey “tilt-rotor ” aircraft to watch as crews practiced launching aircraft from the Vinson’s deck and receiving them for landing once they returned. Journalists—both local Hawaii reporters and international press in the islands in the exercise—were also brought aboard.
“We are deployed here with what we call the air wing in the future, ” carrier strike group commander Rear Adm. Michael Wosje told a group of reporters aboard the ship Friday.
The ship has a mixture of F-18 fighters as well as advanced new F-35 aircraft on its deck, along with helicopters and other support aircraft. They’re training with the rest of the international gathering of warships and aircraft that have come to Hawaii to train.
The Carl Vinson has a crew of just under 5, 000 sailors and has about 75 aircraft assigned to it, stacked above and below deck as they swap between operations and maintenance. The Vinson is one of 11 aircraft carriers in the U.S. military’s massive arsenal, which are regarded by many strategists as the Pentagon’s most powerful tools.
At RIMPAC they’re learning how…
