A United States nuclear-powered aircraft carrier returned to its home port in Japan this week, ending the American “carrier gap” in the Western Pacific Ocean since the summer.
Meanwhile, two Chinese aircraft carriers were spotted underway in waters off the coast of northeastern China, including the country’s newest “flattop” that was conducting another round of sea trials. This followed the Chinese military unveiling new carrier-based aircraft.
In waters off the U.S. West Coast, a Japanese helicopter destroyer, which is undergoing conversion into the country’s first aircraft carrier since World War II, conducted bilateral training with an American naval vessel, following trials at sea with fighter jets.
Newsweek‘s weekly update maps aircraft carrier movements in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. As of November 22, the locations of 11 vessels were publicly available via military disclosures or open-source satellite imagery. The U.S. military has the world’s largest aircraft carrier fleet, with 11 in service. China ranks second with three “flattops.”
USS George Washington: Yokosuka, Japan
Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Quinton A. Lee/U.S. Navy
The George Washington on Friday arrived home at Yokosuka naval base in Japan, located within the Greater Tokyo Area. Following its first deployment there from 2008 to 2015, it underwent a 2,117-day maintenance period at a shipyard in Virginia from 2017 to 2023.
The return of the 100,000-ton George Washington marks the end of the U.S. “carrier gap” in the Western Pacific Ocean, when no American “flattops” were available for immediate tasking in the region to support crises or respond to contingencies during the summer.
At that time, the George Washington and USS Ronald Reagan, its sister ship that had been stationed in Japan since 2015, were in California for role-swapping. The Pentagon repositioned two other “flattops” from the Western Pacific Ocean to the Middle East amid tensions there.
USS Abraham Lincoln: Strait of Malacca
The Abraham Lincoln was spotted sailing into the northern end of the Strait of Malacca from the Indian Ocean on Thursday, according to ship-tracking website VesselFinder.
It was retasked from a scheduled Seventh Fleet’s deployment to a surge deployment in the Middle East in late August. It left the region for the U.S. Seventh Fleet’s operating area, which covers the Western Pacific Ocean and parts of the Indian Ocean, as of Monday.
USS Carl Vinson: Eastern Pacific Ocean
Mass Communication Specialist Peter K. McHaddad/U.S. Navy
The California-based Carl Vinson on Monday left Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego for a Pacific Ocean deployment. The U.S. Naval Institute’s USNI News, citing a Navy spokesperson, said the warship conducted routine operations in the Eastern Pacific.
USS Ronald Reagan: Bremerton, Washington
The Ronald Reagan, which has handed over its role as a Japan-based aircraft carrier to the George Washington, remained in port at Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, on Wednesday as it conducted a firefighting drill, the Navy said in photos.
USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt: San Diego, California
According to a livestreaming webcam in San Diego, the Nimitz on Tuesday was pierside at North Island. It was conducting routine training operations, the Navy said in photos.
Photos published by the Navy show the Theodore Roosevelt pierside at North Island on Tuesday, when sailors were conducting maintenance aboard the aircraft carrier.
CNS Liaoning: Yellow Sea
China’s first operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was in the Bohai Sea off the coast of northeastern China on Wednesday, according to Newsweek‘s review of a satellite image.
The following day, it was spotted in the Yellow Sea and heading back to its home port in Qingdao, a city in China’s eastern province of Shandong and on the coast of the Yellow Sea. The Bohai Sea is the northwestern and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea.
CNS Shandong: Sanya, Hainan
Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem
The second operational Chinese “flattop,” the Shandong, was pierside at its home port in Sanya on China’s southern island of Hainan on Friday, satellite imagery shows. It returned home on November 16 after a deployment in the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea.
CNS Fujian: East China Sea
The Fujian, which is China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, left Shanghai’s Jiangnan Shipyard on Monday. It is reported that the warship has commenced its fifth sea trial.
Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force
JS Kaga: Eastern Pacific Ocean
Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Andrew Benvie/U.S. Navy
The Kaga, which has completed onboard trials with F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter jets off the southern coast of California, left San Diego and conducted training with the U.S. Navy dry cargo ship USNS Washington Chambers off the coast on Monday.
JS Izumo: Yokohama, Japan
The Izumo, the sister ship of the Kaga, remained at a shipyard in Yokohama to the north of Yokosuka, according to the latest video published on November 16. It will undergo a major refit as part of its conversion from a helicopter destroyer to a light aircraft carrier.
