The USS Carl Vinson joined South Korea and Japan in conducting perhaps their biggest-ever combined naval exercises in an act of sabre rattling towards nuclear-armed North Korea. The Carl Vinson Strike Group also joined the USS Theodore Roosevelt in a multi-large deck drill with Japan in the Philippine Sea that included a test of air warfare operations.

The United States is expected to deploy almost half of its aircraft carriers in the Western Pacific this year, as military tensions continue to rise over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and China’s territorial claims. Three US aircraft carriers from the 11-strong fleet are already in the region, with two more on the way an unprecedented number intended as a strong signal of deterrence.