The U.S. aircraft carrier strike group Abraham Lincoln conducted an exercise in the Arabian Sea over the weekend as part of continued efforts by the U.S. Navy to “maintain readiness” and “keep strong offensive capabilities.”
According to U.S. Commander of Carrier Strike Group 12 Rear Admiral Michael Boyle, “The U.S. Navy is extremely ready, and that’s really what we pride ourselves on, although we have been here on this deployment since the beginning of April, we maintain a vast majority of the flying that we do to maintain our readiness. So we are constantly training to sharpen the sword and maintain a strong offensive capability.”
The U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln entered the strategic Strait of Hormuz last week – for the first time – amid simmering tensions between Iran and the United States and the powerful American strike group encountered the Iranian navy on its way into the Arabian Gulf. Rear Admiral Michael Boyle said that “All of the interactions that we had with the Iranian Navy were safe and professional, and that’s exactly what we like to see, and generally that’s what navies encounter at sea, especially when we’re interacting with a professional navy like the Iranian navy, they tend to operate by the rules of the road, and that’s what we saw coming in this time.”
While it is evident that the U.S. is maintaining its preparedness for a possible escalation with the Islamic Republic, Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln Captain Walter Slaughter insisted that the mission aims to promote maritime security and regional stability, saying”Our mission is to promote maritime security and alongside our coalition partners to keep stability in this region.”