A range of military and political developments, from the very rare planned deployment of three huge United States armadas in the Persian Gulf to Israeli fears of Barack Obama’s re-election, is evidence of rising danger around Iran.
Volusia is a small town in Florida, about sixty kilometres west of the coastal resort of Daytona. This dot on the map [11], straddling the St John River just off the state’s “black bear strategic byway”, seems a very long way from the rising tensions over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. In fact, the connection is surprisingly close. For Volusia also sits at the eastern border of the extensive Ocala [12] national forest, which plays host to the United States navy's only[13] firing-range - the “Pinecastle impact range” - capable of dropping live air-to-surface weapons. The town’s residents are used to living with noise, but since mid-January 2012 they have been “hearing booms loud enough to rattle their windows and scare their cats” (see Skyler Swisher, “Naval bomb practice rattles Volusia-Flagler [14]”, Daytona Beach News-Journal, 2 February 2012).
This exceptional level [15] of activity reflects the range’s current intensive use as an aircrew-training site for pilots and weapons officers from the USS Enterprise now cruising offshore. The plan is that this will be redeployed to the Persian Gulf some time in March 2012 as the leading vessel in a third US carrier battle-group in the region, alongside the groups already there led by the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Carl Vinson. The Enterprise battle-group is normally assigned to the United States navy's sixth fleet in the Mediterranean, though it has also transited the Suez canal into the Red Sea and beyond. This time [16], the Pentagon is making it clear that the Enterprise deployment is intended specifically to send a strong message to Iran.
The carrier message
To get a sense of what is happening, some context is helpful. The Enterprise is as a 1960s-era vessel the oldest [17] nuclear-powered carrier in the United States navy; its current deployment will be the twenty-second and last before it is decommissioned. Until that happens it remains one of eleven potential carrier battle-groups in the US’s inventory, including much more modern Nimitz-class [18]warships such as the Abraham Lincoln and the Carl Vinson.
It is routine for carrier battle-groups (CBG), once assembled and deployed in distant waters, to stay on station for up to six months - though with resupply this can be extended. There is often a short period of overlap between CBGs coming and going, but rarely much more than this. What is most unusual about the two CBGs now in the Persian Gulf - which have been there barely a month - is precisely that there are two rather than one in the same area; which also means that to have three on station, potentially for several months, is very rare indeed. More
