The head of U.S. Pacific Command said Wednesday he takes responsibility for confusion over the movements of the USS Carl Vinson strike group toward North Korea.
Adm. Harry Harris told House lawmakers that he failed to accurately communicate the movements of the aircraft to the media this month amid reports it was steaming toward the Korean peninsula amid increasing military tensions.
The admiral issued a press release earlier this month saying the carrier group was cancelling a visit to Australia to head north from Singapore. President Trump later said he was sending a powerful “armada” to North Korea, which was defiantly testing missiles, though Defense Secretary Mattis downplayed the movement as more routine.
“With regard to the Carl Vinson, that’s my fault on the confusion and I’ll take the hit for it,” Harris told the House Armed Services Committee.
The admiral said he made the decision to pull the strike group from Singapore, cutting short a scheduled exercise there and a scheduled Australia port visit, and send it north toward Korea.
“Where I failed was to communicate that adequately to the press and the media. That is all on me,” Harris said.
But the Navy made good on the order. The ships are now in the Philippine Sea just east of Okinawa, Japan — about a two-hour flight from North Korea — and within striking range.
The Carl Vinson’s deployment was extended by 30 days to provide President Trump the option of an aircraft carrier if a response to Kim Jong-un’s regime is needed, Harris said.
The USS Ronald Reagan, which is stationed in Japan, is currently in maintenance.
The Navy has also deployed the Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Michigan to the Korean peninsula following recent missile tests and fears of new nuclear tests by the regime.
