#3078

“trait incantatoire!”

Stéphane Mallarmé

Death Rattler….

ARABIAN SEA (November 19, 2020) -- An F/A-18C Hornet, from the “Death Rattlers” of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 323, flies over United States Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68).

The supercarrier, her airwing, and her escorting carrier strike group cruisers and destroyers are approaching the end of a long deployment to the other side of the world.

                                            *          *          *          *

E V O L V I N G     S T O R Y....

The Nimitz carrier strike group -- including the “Death Rattlers” -- has interrupted their long journey home....reversed course....and returned to the volatile Persian Gulf (within 100 nm -- 185 km / 115 miles -- of Iran from time to time)....as November morphs into December 2020....likely delaying their (over 7,000 Sailors) return home to Norfolk, VA until after the upcoming year-end Holidays, and current volatile tensions between Iran and Israel calm.

(Note: This is over the alleged-Israeli assassination of Iran’s top nuclear scientist by remote control near the capital city of Tehran a few days ago. Iran, understandably, could lash out violently, igniting a Middle East war. This is a potentially very dangerous situation.)

                                           ** December 1, 2020 **

                                           USS Nimitz (CVN 68)

                                         ______________________

>>Top photo: Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Cheyenne Geletka, USN