Rarest of the Breed:Massive Maritime Display by US,South Korea and Japan

The US Navy's 7th Fleet has been holding an extremely rare three-carrier strike group exercise with allies Japan and South Korea off the East Coast of South Korea in the Sea of Japan.It has been 10 years since three US carriers exercised simultaneously in the Western Pacific.Taking part in the drills from the US were the USS Nimitz (CVN-68);USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71);and the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76),plus their respective battle groups of guided missile cruisers,guided missile destroyers and nuclear attack submarines.The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force contributed a helicopter carrier and two destroyers;while South Korea sent seven warships to the exercise running from 10-14 November 2017.*
According to US 7th Fleet Commander Admiral Scott Swift:
It is a rare opportunity to train with two aircraft carriers together;and even rarer to to be able to train with three.Multiple carrier strike force operations are very complex,and this exercise in the Western Pacific is a strong testament to the US Pacific Fleet's unique ability and ironclad commitment to the continued security and stability of the region.*
The exercise has included air defence drills;sea surveillance;replenishments at sea;defensive air combat training;close-in coordinated manoeuvres;and other training,the 7th Fleet said.The drills demonstrate the Navy's unique capability to operate multiple carrier strike groups as a coordinated strike effort.Embarked on the carriers were 12 strike fighter squadrons of F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornets and two squadrons of F/A-18C Hornets,all of which are capable of carrying the B61 nuclear weapon.*
In response,North Korea's ambassador to the UN,Ja Song Nam,wrote a letter excoriating the exercise to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.Mr.Ja noted the round-the-clock sorties by US B-52H strategic bombers that are reminiscent of the Cold War and the surprise strike posture with frequent flights of the B-1B and B-2 formations to the airspace of South Korea:
The large scale nuclear war exercises and blackmails,which the US staged for a whole year without break in collaboration with its followers to stifle our republic,make one conclude that the option we have taken was the right one and we should go along the way to the last.The US is now running amok for war exercises by introducing nuclear war equipment in and around the Korean peninsula.*
Perhaps the highlight of the drills was the low overflight of a pair of US Air Force B-1B Lancer strategic bombers over the armada of allied warships in the Sea of Japan,escorted by Hornet fighter jets.