The San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson will join aircraft carriers from France and Japan for a major exercise in the Philippine Sea beginning Saturday, the Navy announced.
The Vinson and its escorts — the cruiser USS Princeton and destroyers USS Sterett and USS William P. Lawrence — will operate alongside the FS Charles De Gaulle, and JS Kaga in the Pacific Steller exercise.
“Pacific Steller 2025 allows us to practice seamless integration with our French and Japanese allies in a multi-domain environment,” said Rear Adm. Michael Wosje, commander of Carrier Strike Group 1. “Coordinated operations between USS Carl Vinson, FS Charles De Gaulle, and JS Kaga strengthen our alliances and deter our adversaries.”
“Together, we seek to maintain an open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, free of all forms of coercion, and we’re excited to work alongside our allies and partners who share that vision,” he said.
French Rear Adm. Jacques Mallard noted that the De Gaulle had traveled 6,000 miles from its home port in Toulon to participate in the exercise.
“It is a great opportunity for the French Carrier Strike Group to cooperate with our partners in the Indo-Pacific during the whole deployment,” Mallard said. “While France is a resident nation of the Indo-Pacific, it has not deployed its CSG to this part of the world for a long time,”
The last exercise of this type occurred in August involving the USS Abraham Lincoln from San Diego and the Italian Navy aircraft carrier ITS Cavour.
The Carl Vinson is the third Nimitz-class, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. The terrorist Osama bin Laden was buried at sea from the Vinson after a Navy SEAL mission in 2010.
