美军太平洋司令对卡尔文森号事件承担责任

choi

Eric Schmitt, 美军太平洋司令对卡尔文森号事件承担责任. 纽约时报中文网, Apr 27, 2017
https://cn.nytimes.com/usa/20170 ... vinson-north-korea/

, which is translated from

Eric Schmitt, Commander Takes Blame For Miscues Over Carrier; A string of errors gave the wrong impression about a ship's direction. New York Times, Apr 27, 2017.

Quote:

(a) "Harry B Harris Jr, the head of the Pacific Command, told [on Wednesday (Apr 26)] the House Armed Services Committee in a hearing on security challenges in the region. 'I'll take the hit for that.'

(b) "Admiral Harris ordered the Carl Vinson and three other warships earlier this month to cancel a port call to Australia and 'sail north' from Singapore into the western Pacific. An ill-timed news release by the Navy's Third Fleet created the impression that the carrier was headed north immediately, but in reality, it was steaming south to join the Australian navy in a secretive, truncated exercise in the Indian Ocean, 3,500 miles southwest of the Korean Peninsula.

"The confusing sequence of events — including a partially erroneous explanation later by the defense secretary, Jim Mattis — were only fully revealed about a week later when the Navy posted photographs of the carrier group steaming off the coast of Indonesia.

"The chain of errors surprised Admiral Harris's bosses at the Pentagon, upset edgy allies and caught the White House flat-footed — especially after President Trump asserted an 'armada' was racing toward the impending crisis.

Note:
(a) The first time I learned of USS Carl Vinson was not racing to North Korea was when reading
Eric Schmitt and Helene Cooper, Big Surprises from Pentagon. New York Times, Apr 21, 2017

, which formed the basis of my posting here that day (Apr 21) under the title: "To the Surprise of Pentagon and White House."
(b) miscue (n)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miscue

(c)
(i) Carl Vinson Strike Group Departs Singapore for Western Pacific. US 3rd Fleet Public Affairs, Apr 9, 2017 (Story Number: NNS170409-02)
http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=99815
("Adm Harry Harris, commander, US Pacific Command, has directed the Carl Vinson Strike Group to sail north and report on station in the Western Pacific Ocean after departing Singapore April 8")

I am unconvinced: not just "to sail north" but also "report on station in the Western Pacific Ocean after departing Singapore April 8" (not in the near future, as revisionists now seems to suggest).
(ii) Mark Landler and Eric Schmitt, Aircraft Carrier Was Not Heading Where US Said. New York Times, Apr 19, 2017 (front page)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/ ... ea-carl-vinson.html
(Hours after Trump's interview with Maria Bartiromo on Apr 12, White House press secretary Sean Spicer ("using talking points supplied by the Pentagon") and then defense secretary Jim Mattis said at Pentagon things that "reinforced the perception of ships racing to the [North korea] scene")

* Until today, I was unaware of this report which has been widely cited.
(iii) Julia Limitone, Trump on North Korea Threats: We Are Sending an Armada. Fox Business, Apr 12, 2017 (video)
www.foxbusiness.com/politics/201 ... sending-armada.html
(" 'We are sending an armada, very powerful. We have submarines, very powerful, far more powerful than the aircraft carrier,' Trump told the FOX Business Network's Maria Bartiromo")