No aircraft carriers from the United States and China were underway in the Western Pacific Ocean as of August 30, with four U.S. “flat-tops” moored in their home ports of San Diego and Washington.
However, Washington’s allies Japan and Italy have been conducting a dual-carrier exercise as part of a multinational naval exercise.
Aircraft carriers are major platforms used by countries to project sea power in support of national interests and foreign policy in their immediate region and beyond. The U.S. Navy has the world’s largest aircraft carrier fleet with 11 in service. China ranks second with three ships launched.
Newsweek‘s weekly update maps U.S. and Chinese aircraft carrier movements in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. As of August 30, the locations of at least nine ships were publicly available via military disclosures or open-source satellite imagery.
U.S. Navy
USS Carl Vinson and USS George Washington: San Diego, California
The Carl Vinson and the George Washington were spotted pierside at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, according to a ship spotter’s photos.
The Carl Vinson returned to North Island earlier this month after taking part in the Rim of the Pacific or RIMPAC naval exercises off the Hawaiian Islands.
The George Washington conducted a hull swap at North Island with the USS Ronald Reagan in preparation for its deployment to Yokosuka naval base this fall. A hull swap refers to an operational transition between two aircraft carriers.
The George Washington departed North Island on August 22 and returned to the port four days later.
USS Nimitz and USS Ronald Reagan: Bremerton, Washington
This photograph captured on August 29 by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 Earth observation satellite shows U.S. Navy aircraft carriers USS Nimitz, left, and USS Ronald Reagan, right, docked at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington.
Sentinel Hub
Satellite imagery available on Thursday showed both Nimitz-class aircraft carriers docked at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, part of Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton in Washington state.
The Ronald Reagan is being prepared for an estimated 17-month maintenance program that is scheduled to begin in March 2025. It has been the forward-deployed aircraft carrier in Yokosuka since 2015.
In the meantime, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Abraham Lincoln, both homeported at North Island, were in the Gulf of Oman 161 miles apart, satellite imagery captured on August 25 showed.
🇺🇸Carrier Strike Group 3 & Carrier Strike Group 9🇺🇸
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) & USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) spotted on @planet operating in the Gulf of Oman ~260km apartOf course the IDs could be switched but fairly confident that @TheRealCVN71 is operating closer in pic.twitter.com/HFhW95btYd
— MT Anderson (@MT_Anderson) August 26, 2024
The two carriers had sailed from the West Coast for their scheduled deployments in the Pacific Ocean, but were retasked by the Pentagon to increase the American military presence in the Middle East amid heightened tensions between Israel and Iran, leaving a “carrier gap” in the Western Pacific Ocean.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, was asked on Tuesday how long he expected there would not be a carrier strike group in the Indo-Pacific region. He claimed “we can walk and chew gum at the same time” but refused to get into deployment timelines for operational security.
People’s Liberation Army Navy
CNS Liaoning: Qingdao, Shandong
China’s first operational aircraft carrier, the Soviet-built Liaoning, was moored pierside at its home port in Qingdao on Wednesday, according to available satellite imagery.
CNS Shandong: Sanya, Hainan
This photograph captured on August 29 by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 Earth observation satellite shows the Chinese navy aircraft carrier Shandong moored at its home port in Sanya, in China’s southern Hainan province.
Sentinel Hub
On Thursday, satellite imagery showed the Shandong, the second carrier in service with the Chinese navy, docked at its home port in Sanya on the southern island province of Hainan.
The aircraft carrier and three other warships operated in the Philippine Sea on August 12, Japan’s Joint Staff Office said. The Chinese carrier group returned from the area the next day.
CNS Fujian: Shanghai
The Fujian, the Chinese navy’s third and most advanced aircraft carrier, remains at Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard, where it was built, satellite photos showed on Tuesday.
The aircraft carrier recently returned from nearly a month in the Yellow and Bohai seas off northeastern China, where it was testing various onboard systems.
Italian Navy
ITS Cavour: Philippine Sea
The Cavour visited Yokosuka on August 22, a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force base situated 30 miles southwest of Tokyo, marking its first port call in Japan. It left the base on Tuesday.
The Italian carrier was seen participating in Noble Raven—a multinational naval exercise, with the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, and Australia—in undated photos published on X by the French Joint Staff and German Navy Rear Admiral Axel Schulz on Thursday.
One of the photos showed a Japanese navy flat-top sailing in front of the Cavour during the exercise. JS Izumo, a helicopter carrier that is being converted to operate U.S.-made F-35B stealth fighter jets, departed Yokosuka on Tuesday as well, according to ship spotters.
The fifth-generation F-35B is a carrier-based aircraft capable of short take-off and vertical landing, which can operate from so-called light aircraft carriers equipped with ski jump ramps like the Cavour, or from a flat-top flight deck shorter than a standard aircraft carrier like that of the Izumo.
According to the Italian Navy, the Cavour is due to visit several ports in the Indo-Pacific region, including the Philippines and India, before returning to Italy in November.
