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Some 220 km northeast of Pohang port, North Gyeongsang Province, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln appeared on the horizon this week, an hour and a half after a C-2 Greyhound transport plane took off from the Osan Air Base. With a deck length equal to three football fields, the ship held steady even in 3 m high waves.
Along the deck some 20 F/A-18 Hornets sat alongside the upgraded F/A-18 Super Hornets, E-2C Hawkeye spy planes, SH-60F and HH-60H helicopters, and EA-6B electronic warfare Prowlers. The E-2C acts as the eyes and ears of the aircraft carrier and is said to be capable of detecting the slightest movements of vessels within a range of 300 km. The Abraham Lincoln had carried 85 aircraft, but with the recent retirement of the F-14 fighter and others, there are now only 70 planes on the deck.
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An F-18 Super Hornet is launched from the deck of the U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln during joint Korean-U.S. military exercises off the port city of Busan on Thursday.
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The four hydraulic catapults on deck never allow the Hornets and Super Hornets a moment¡¯s rest, shooting them off into the sky at a frenzied pace. Catapults reduce the take-off distance so planes can be airborne off the ship¡¯s relatively short runway: without them they would drop into the sea. The ¡®Abe¡¯ can launch two planes every 37 seconds in daylight and two per minute at night.
It is the first visit to Korea from one of the world¡¯s biggest aircraft carrier, though its smaller cousin Kitty Hawk is a familiar sight. The behemoth is here to take part in the joint Korean-U.S. military exercises called the Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration (RSOI) and ¡°Foal Eagle¡± drills that started on Saturday. Commissioned in November 1989, is the fifth ship in the NIMITZ-class of 97,000-ton carriers. It came to fame after U.S. President George W. Bush chose it to deliver his end-of-major-combat speech in the Iraq War under a banner that read "Mission Accomplished" in May 2003.
The U.S. fleet taking part in the exercises includes Aegis cruiser Mobile Bay, two Aegis destroyers, a supply ship, frigates and two Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered submarines.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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