U.S. Navy’s USS George Washington Aircraft Carrier To Visit Vietnam

An EA-18G Growler, attached to Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 141, prepares to motorboat from the formation platform of Nimitz-class craft bearer USS George Washington (CVN 73) while transiting the Luzon Strait, July 22, 2026

(U.S. Navy photograph by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tyler Crowley)

After operating successful the contested South China Sea earlier this week, the United States Navy’s only forward-deployed nuclear-powered craft carrier, the USS George Washington (CVN-73), is now heading to Vietnam and is expected to arrive successful Da Nang connected Thursday. The larboard telephone will besides apt past done Monday.

CVN-73 began its current deployment successful May, and spent overmuch of the past period successful the Philippine Sea before it transited the Luzon Strait into the South China Sea.

First Visit to Vietnam in Three Years

The USS George Washington will beryllium conscionable the 4th U.S. Navy bearer to sojourn Vietnam successful much than five decades, and the first sojourn to the state since the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) made different larboard telephone successful June 2023, erstwhile it served arsenic the forward-deployed supercarrier successful the U.S. 7th Fleet and based at Yokosuka, Japan. During that visit, CVN-76 was accompanied by the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers USS Antietam (CG-54) and USS Robert Smalls (CG-62).

There were only 2 different occasions successful which the United States Navy’s craft carriers visited the Southeast Asian nation, including successful March 2020, erstwhile the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) docked astatine Da Nang; and 2 years earlier, successful March 2018 erstwhile history was made by the larboard telephone of the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), pinch being the first U.S. Navy craft bearer to recreation to Vietnam since 1975.

Still, the America-class amphibious battle vessel USS Tripoli (LHA-7), besides joined by CG-62, was the past flattop to make a high-profile larboard sojourn to the state conscionable past December.

Da Nang Expanding Port Facilities

Da Nang is now location to the 3rd largest larboard strategy successful Vietnam, aft conscionable the Saigon Port successful Ho Chi Minh City and the Port of Hai Phòng. Its larboard installation is now undergoing an extended description costing much than $1.7 cardinal that includes automated cargo-handling technology.

Plans besides telephone for stronger roadworthy and obstruction links pinch business centers successful the region, including successful neighboring Laos and Thailand.

However, the improvements aren’t portion of a naval description successful the Maritime Southeast Asian nation, moreover arsenic it is the larboard that has been frequented by U.S. warships.

“Hanoi has nary liking successful turning Da Nang into an anti-China outpost, nor is Vietnam apt to wantonness its longstanding reluctance to participate general subject alliances. Instead, Vietnam is building resilience,” the Asia Times reported. “Better ports fortify proviso chains.”

Carrier Deployments During The Vietnam War

Although USS George Washington will beryllium conscionable the 4th craft bearer – not counting the USS Tripoli – to make a larboard telephone to Da Nang, it is worthy noting that this is still much flattops that visited Vietnam than during the Second Indo-China War successful the precocious 1960s and early 1970s.

In total, 28 United States craft carriers operated disconnected the seashore of Vietnam, astatine either Yankee aliases Dixie Stations, during the war. Instead, the vessels remained offshore successful the Gulf of Tonkin and the South China Sea alternatively than docking successful Vietnamese ports.

Active combat operations precluded regular larboard visits during the conflict, and nary carriers docked aliases made immoderate charismatic “visits” wrong the country.

The United States Navy’s USS Enterprise (CVN-65) was the first and only nuclear-powered carrier to beryllium deployed to the region during the conflict, pinch the conventionally powered flattops USS Midway (CVA-41) and USS Hancock (CVA-19) having the favoritism of being among the warships stationed offshore of Vietnam and participating successful Operation Frequent Wind.

Both of those 2 craft carriers served arsenic landing and refuge sites for evacuating helicopters and the thousands of displaced unit during the autumn of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City).

The visits by the U.S. Navy warships are a motion of the beardown and increasing defense ties betwixt the United States and Vietnam, signaling the strategical realignment successful the Indo-Pacific region, and a shared concerns complete China’s maritime claims.