USS Carl Vinson makes historic stop in Vietnam
SEOUL – The USS Carl Vinson — the Navy’s massive nuclear-powered aircraft carrier — arrived in Vietnam on Monday, marking the first time such a ship has docked in the country since the Vietnam War.
The Nimitz-class supercarrier, accompanied by another carrier and a destroyer, anchored off the coast of Da Nang, the city where 3,500 Marines landed in March 1965 as the war’s first American ground troops.
The Carl Vinson carries 6,000 crew members, stretches more than 1,000 feet and weighs more than 100,000 tons. The port call will mark the largest American military presence in Vietnam since the almost two-decade-long war ended in 1975. The war killed 58,000 Americans and more than 3 million Vietnamese.
The Carl Vinson’s sailors will visit a treatment center for victims affected by the chemical defoliant Agent Orange during the war, and a Navy band will perform a concert in Da Nang.
The ship’s arrival marks another step toward improved military and economic ties since the two former adversaries normalized relations in 1995. During a visit in 2016, President Obama lifted a decades-old ban on the sale of military equipment to Vietnam. Last year, the U.S. transferred a decommissioned Coast Guard cutter to Vietnam and signed a three-year plan for defense cooperation.
Analysts say the Carl Vinson’s landmark visit also sends a signal to China, which has sought to assert its claim on islands in the South China Sea. China’s military buildup in the South China Sea alarms smaller countries in the area and challenges U.S. naval dominance in the Pacific. China claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea.
The United States hasn’t taken any official position on South China Sea territorial claims but conducts “freedom of navigation” operations in the waterways by sailing ships without notice through disputed areas.
China has condemned the operations and has responded in the past by scrambling fighter jets to monitor the U.S. vessels.
That the U.S. has sent its “epitome of modern naval power” to the area delivers a message to China, Carl Thayer, professor of politics at the Australian Defence Force Academy, wrote in a policy briefing.
Vietnam Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said the visit underscores its good relations with the U.S. and contributes to “maintaining peace, stability, security, cooperation and development in the region.”
Special to USA TODAY