US considering sending aircraft carrier to Korean Peninsula
By ANIThursday, June 3, 2010
WASHINGTON - With tensions escalating on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. is weighing whether to deploy the massive aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the Yellow Sea, where North Korea allegedly sank a South Korean warship.
The New York Times quoted American defense officials, as saying that such a deployment would be a show of force by Washington, which has vowed to protect South Korea and blunt North Korea’s aggressive designs.
An international investigation last month blamed North Korea for torpedoing the Cheonan warship in March, killing 46 South Korean sailors.
U.S. officials, who spoke anonymously, said that a final decision on deployment of the nuclear-powered carrier was likely by the end of the week.
If the deployment occurs, the USS George Washington would head to the Yellow Sea by Tuesday for naval exercises with the South Koreans, two senior Pentagon officials told Fox News.
The deployment of the aircraft carrier would be seen as a particularly aggressive move by the United States because of its sheer size.
According to a Navy website, the carrier is 244 feet high from keel to mast and can accommodate some 6,250 crew members.
Built in the 1980s, the carrier uses two nuclear reactors that would allow it to steam almost 18 years before needing to refuel. (ANI)
