there would have been at least one carrier in the IO during the war - and those ships most likely are what escorted the Marines and the rest of the RDF to the Gulf - i.e. they didnt get there by accident, they are what brought them there
Especially as the carrier is a Marine assault carrier and the Salem would be used as a gunfire support ship for a Marine landing.
There is no way the US wouldnt have had a CV or CVN there - not with a mid 90's start to the war.
And the mix of planes in the provisional squadron screams "flown off either a crippled or lost carrier". The F-14D is the best clue - there were only three carriers that flew them at that time - Stennis, TR and if I remember correctly one CV.
If you read the RDF they arrived before the nuking and before the big fleet battles in the Atlantic - so they arent remnants sent after those battles but instead escorts and assigned ships sent before they occurred. I.e. the 24th ID arrived in March of 1997 before the last remaining fleet was shattered in the timeline and the Marines arrived in June of 97 just about the time that the last big fleet battle was occuring.
so that leaves out those ships (or at least most of them) being shattered fleet units from the Atlantic -they would have been dedicated escorts and fire support ships.
Obviously they have taken losses - I doubt that two Marine Divisions arrived on the only the USS Nashville LPD-13 and the USS Belleau Wood LHA-3.
|