US aircraft carrier strike group heads to the East Sea, visits three Southeast Asian countries

Last week, a US Navy strike group led by an aircraft carrier and three destroyers visited ports in three countries bordering the South China Sea.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln prepares to dock at Port Klang in Malaysia on November 23. (Source: US Navy)

The US magazine Newsweek reported on November 25 that the USS Abraham Lincoln, one of 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers currently serving in the US Navy, docked at Port Klang on the west coast of Malaysia for a scheduled visit on November 23. This port faces the Strait of Malacca, connecting the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean .

The visit of the USS Abraham Lincoln marks the return of a US "aircraft carrier" to the South China Sea. According to photos released by the US Navy, the aircraft carrier that previously operated in the South China Sea was the USS Theodore Roosevelt on September 20th, and that ship returned to its base in California on October 15th.

Meanwhile, the three escort destroyers visited two other countries in the region; specifically, the USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. docked in Singapore, while the USS Spruance and USS Michael Murphy visited Thailand.

The U.S. Navy said the carrier strike group demonstrated its inherent flexibility by visiting three countries in the region simultaneously. The remaining ships in the group, the destroyers USS O'Kane and USS Stockdale, remain stationed in the Middle East to conduct maritime security operations.

The Pentagon instructed the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to leave the Middle East after a reinforced deployment amid tensions between Israel and Iran. The group was spotted moving toward the northern end of the Malacca Strait from the Indian Ocean on November 21.

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