Nine US warships with 17,000 personnel enter Gulf in show of force

A Boatswain's Mate checks to make sure the launch bar is securely fastened on the catapult before signaling to launch the F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the "Sunliners" of Fighter Attack Squadron (VFA) 81 this month aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which is taking part in the war games along with the Nimitz-class carrier USS Stennis, the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard, the guided-missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Princeton, the destroyers USS O'Kane and USS Higgins, and the landing ships USS Denver and USS Rushmore.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Ships packed with 17,000 sailors and Marines moved into the Persian Gulf on Wednesday as the U.S. Navy staged another show of force off Iran's coast just days before U.S.-Iran talks in Baghdad.

The carrier strike groups led by the USS John C. Stennis and USS Nimitz were joined by the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard and its own strike group, which includes two landing ships carrying 2,100 members of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit...

The war games – which culminate in an amphibious landing exercise in Kuwait, just a few miles from Iran – appear to be a clear warning to Tehran, coming just ahead of the Baghdad talks and as the United Nations contemplates tightening sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

Read the rest at the San Diego Tribune

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