‘Supercarrier’ Carl Vinson makes historic port call in Vietnam
SEOUL – The USS Carl Vinson — a 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, commissioned in March 1982, 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 U.S. 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.
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.
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, wrote Carl Thayer, professor of politics at the Australian Defence Force Academy, in a policy briefing.
“The message the USS Carl Vinson sends is that the U.S. will maintain its naval presence in the South China Sea and that Vietnam supports the presence of the U.S. Navy as long as it contributes to regional peace and stability,” he wrote.
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.”
Historical animosity toward China runs deep in Vietnam, but China remains Vietnam’s largest trading .