Overview
- The Nimitz-class carrier USS George Washington pulled into Da Nang on Thursday for a scheduled five-day port visit, marking the fourth U.S. carrier to call Vietnam since 2018.
- The strike group arrived with the guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls, the destroyer USS Shoup and the embarked Carrier Air Wing 5, bringing about 5,000 sailors to the city.
- U.S. Navy leaders plan meetings with Vietnamese military and civilian officials and have scheduled public tours, cultural exchanges, community service projects and a local soccer game.
- The visit comes shortly after a tense period in the South China Sea that included clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels and the recent departure of Russian naval ships from Cam Ranh, underscoring competing great-power activity in Vietnam’s waters.
- The stop builds on two decades of deeper U.S.-Vietnam ties and Hanoi’s strategy of engaging multiple powers for security and defense cooperation while avoiding formal alliances.