Navy Flexes Muscle, Tows Retired Aircraft Carrier Toward North Korea
BREMERTON, WA — Seeking a way of keeping Pyongyang in check amidst a tightened budgetary environment, the Navy today began towing a 52-year-old decommissioned aircraft carrier from what some call a "ship's graveyard" at Naval Base Bremerton, to the politically unstable Korean Peninsula.
The deployment of USS Constellation (CV-64), which was put out of service more than a decade ago and will rely on a 230-foot Navy tugboat to make its 5,000 mile journey, is intended to "send a strong message" to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that America and its allies won’t tolerate that country’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, according to the commander of U.S. Third Fleet, Vice Adm. Kenneth Floyd.
"It’s been proven time and again that if you want an aggressive nation to stop rattling its saber, all you have to do is park an aircraft carrier in that nation’s back yard," Floyd said during this morning’s low-key recommissioning ceremony at the base's inactive ship maintenance facility.
"We have full faith …
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