US Aircraft Carrier Arrives in NATO Member Norway, to Take Part in Drills
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A US aircraft carrier arrived Wednesday in Oslo with the Norwegian armed forces saying it gives them “a unique opportunity to further develop cooperation and work more closely with our most important ally.”
The nuclear-powered ship USS Gerald R. Ford entered the Oslo fjord escorted by a rapid dinghy-type boat with armed personnel on board. The Norwegian armed forces has said any boats must stay a half-kilometer (half-mile) away from the aircraft carrier and a no-fly zone was created over the area where the aircraft carrier was, AP reported.
Described as the largest aircraft carrier in the world, the vessel will stay in the Norwegian capital until Tuesday. It is then expected to take part in drills with the Norwegian armed forces.
The ship’s first foreign call was broadcast live on Norwegian public television. Onlookers, some using binoculars, were seen on land watching as the large aircraft carrier glided deeper and deeper into the fjord and eventually reached the city of Oslo.
The Russian Embassy in Oslo said that “such demonstrations of power look illogical and harmful.”
Ties between Oslo and Moscow have been tense since the outbreak of the Ukraine war. Norway and Russia have a 198-kilometer-long (123-mile-long) border in the Arctic.
The Norwegian Coastal Administration said two of its pilots were onboard to navigate through the more than 100-kilometer (62-mile) long fjord, and that the depth of the 76-meter (250-feet) tall vessel was “the big challenge.”
“The aircraft carrier stays marginally within the maximum depth in the sailing regulations for the Oslo fjord,” the administration said.
Later Wednesday, the aircraft carrier anchored off the island of Ormoeya in the inner part of Oslofjord, the Norwegian news agency NTB wrote.
In early May, the US Navy said that the ship had departed from Norfolk, Virginia, on its “first combat deployment,” following a shorter two-month deployment in the autumn of 2022.
The vessel is the first of the US Navy’s new Ford class of aircraft carriers. Two more Ford-class carriers are under construction.
The vessel houses about 2,600 sailors, 600 fewer than the previous generation of aircraft carriers.
