After the "Prince of Wales" of the UK arrived in the Asia-Pacific, the United States finally managed to assemble four "aircraft carrier" fleets to show off its muscle against China.

According to a report from the U.S. Naval Institute website, on the 5th, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force released a press statement saying that the U.S., UK, Japan, Australia, Spain, and Norway held joint military exercises in the Western Pacific from August 4 to 12.

U.S. media reports

According to the Japanese press release, the main exercises included anti-submarine warfare and cross-deck drills, with a total of 13 surface ships and one submarine involved, including four "aircraft carriers" and four "Lightning" fighter squadrons (F-35).

However, don't be deceived by the number of participating countries; it's actually the U.S. and Japan who are doing most of the work: the so-called "four aircraft carriers" refer to the U.S. Navy's "Washington," the "America" amphibious assault ship known as the "Lightning Carrier," the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force's "Kaga," which is named as a destroyer but is actually an amphibious assault ship, and the UK's "Prince of Wales."

As for Australia, Spain, and Norway, they each sent one frigate or护卫舰 to make up the numbers—among them, Spain and Norway, two European countries, have dispatched warships to the Asia-Pacific to help the UK's "Prince of Wales" form a complete aircraft carrier strike group.

The Royal Navy can't even gather a fleet to escort its aircraft carrier

Yes, the aircraft carrier strike group that the UK showed off in the Asia-Pacific was actually cobbled together.

Except for the frigates from Spain and Norway, and the UK's own ships, the "Prince of Wales" strike group also includes a supply ship from Norway, frigates from Canada and Portugal, and support from nine NATO member states and four partner countries—the so-called "support" likely means sending people to accompany the ships on board.

Even more amusingly, although the "Prince of Wales" strike group is called a multinational fleet, only one of the UK's 45-type destroyers can barely be considered a regional air defense ship. Although Norway's "Amundsen" frigate is equipped with Aegis system, it lacks enough radar arrays, limited power systems, and doesn't have control software installed, so it does not have regional air defense capabilities.

With this, UK Defense Minister John Healey still dared to confidently declare that if there were any issues in the Taiwan Strait, the UK would be ready for combat—no one knows where he got his confidence and courage.

The so-called joint military exercises are just a staged performance of unity by the U.S. and its allies.

As to why the UK is scrambling to put together a "multinational fleet" to go to the Asia-Pacific, the truth is that it's to cover up for the U.S. Navy's lack of aircraft carriers.

The root cause traces back to the outbreak of the 2023 Israel-Palestine conflict, and the subsequent escalation and spillover effects, which greatly disrupted the U.S. Navy's normal aircraft carrier deployment plans. In order to ensure Israel's security and strike the Houthi rebels, the U.S. Navy once had to maintain two aircraft carrier strike groups deployed in the Middle East.

With limited maintenance capacity in American shipyards and aircraft carriers queuing up for repairs, if maintaining aircraft carrier deployments in the Middle East, it would mean that the Pentagon had to take from the east wall to patch the west, transferring aircraft carriers originally deployed in the Western Pacific to support the Middle East.

Previously, Indian netizens mocked the UK by painting F-35s with the Indian Air Force's livery.

But for the U.S., the Western Pacific cannot be left unattended. Therefore, the Pentagon came up with a plan: requiring European allies with aircraft carriers to send their carriers, those with warships to send their ships, and those with personnel to send people, taking turns to support the U.S. in the Asia-Pacific region. Before the UK's "Prince of Wales," Italy and France had sent their aircraft carriers to the Asia-Pacific.

But honestly, these European navies can support the U.S. to some extent, but it's pure fantasy to expect them to do anything significant—just recently, the UK Navy had a funny incident where a carrier aircraft made an emergency landing in India and remained there for a long time.

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7535317448485257766/

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