National Defense

Report: Trump’s “Armada” Never Actually Went to Korea

Written by SK Ashby

The Trump regime including Trump himself and several members of his cabinet made a big deal out of dispatching the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group to the Korean peninsula as a show of force but, according to the Washington Post, the Carl Vinson (CVN-70) never even headed that direction.

A photograph released by the Navy showed the aircraft carrier sailing through the calm waters of Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java on Saturday, April 15. By later in the day, it was in the Indian Ocean, according to Navy photographs.

In other words, on the same day that the world nervously watched North Korea stage a massive military parade to celebrate the birthday of the nation’s founder, Kim Il Sung, and the press speculated about a preemptive U.S. strike, the U.S. Navy put the Carl Vinson, together with its escort of two guided-missile destroyers and a cruiser, more than 3,000 miles southwest of the Korean Peninsula — and more than 500 miles southeast of Singapore.

USS Carl Vinson wasn't sent to Korean waters, it sailed south to participate in military exercises with Australian forces in a completely different ocean; the Indian Ocean.

I don't think anyone here in America was particularly impressed by Trump's (fake) show of force aside from the usual cretins on cable news with perpetual war-boners, but as amusing as this may be I can imagine potential unintended consequences of Trump's empty threats.

If Trump is incapable of issuing a credible threat of force, it makes the actual use of force more likely. And by claiming he was sending an "armada" to Korea which actually sailed in the opposite direction, Trump's future threats may not be seen as credible.

If you're the North Koreans, wouldn't this make you less inclined to believe anything Trump says he might do to you?