That is three complete air groups. Below is a list of ships that are reported to be with the Battle Group (this is common info that is available to anyone who knows how to use an internet search engine, none of the following is

classified.)

ENTERPRISE-GROUP USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65) General Characteristics Displacement: approx. 93,500 tons full load

Length: 1,123 ft (342.3 m)

Beam: 132.8 ft (40.5 m)

Draft: 39 ft (11.9 m)

Propulsion: 8 x A2W reactor, 4 x steam turbine, 4 shafts, 280,000 shp (210 MW) Speed: 30+ knots (56+ km/h, 34+ mph)

Range: Essentially unlimited

Complement: Ship's company: 3,000 (2,700 Sailors, 150 Chiefs, 150 Officers)

Air wing: 1,800 (250 Pilots, and 1,550 Support personnel)

Armament: 2 Sea Sparrow launchers,

2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS mounts,

2 RAM launchers Armor: 8 inch (20 cm) aluminum belt (equivalent to 4 inch rolled homogeneous steel armour)

Aircraft carried: approx. 66:

Forty three F/A-18 Hornets;

Four EA-6B Prowlers;

Four E-2C Hawkeyes;

Six S-3 Vikings;

Five SH-60 Seahawks)

Though can hold up to 90 aircraft Arleigh Burke class of guided missile destroyers USS ARLEIGH BURKE (DDG 51)

USS STOUT (DDG 55)

USS JAMES E WILLIAMS (DDG 95)

USS FORREST SHERMAN (DDG 98) General Characteristics Displacement: 9,200 tons Length: 509 ft 6 in (155.3 m) Beam: 66 ft (20.1 m) Draft: 31 ft (9.4 m)

Propulsion: 4 × General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 100,000 shp (75 MW) Speed: 30+ knots (55+ km/h) Range: 4400 NM at 20 knots

(8,100 km at 37 km/h)

Complement: 32 officers and 348 enlisted

Armament: 1 × 32 cell, 1 × 64 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems, 96 × RIM-67 SM-2, BGM-109 Tomahawk or RUM-139 VL-Asroc, missiles

1 × 5/62 in (127/62 mm), 2 × 25 mm, 4 × 12.7 mm guns

2 × 3 Mk 46 torpedo tubes

Aircraft: 2 × SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters Motto: Lead from the Front Ticonderoga-class cruiser guided-missile cruiser USS GETTYSBURG (CG 64) Displacement: approx. 9,600 tons full load Length: 567 feet (173 meters) Beam: 55 feet (17 meters) Draught: 33 feet (10 meters)

Propulsion: 4 × General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, 2 shafts, 80,000 shp Speed: 32.5 knots (60 km/h)

Complement: 33 officers & 327 enlisted

Sensors and processing systems: AN/SPY-1A/B multi-function radar

AN/SPS-49 air search radar

AN/SPG-62 fire control radar

AN/SPS-55 surface search radar

AN/SPQ-9 gun fire control radar

AN/SQQ-89(V)3 Sonar suite, conisiting of

AN/SQS-53C/D Active sonar

AN/SQR-19 TACTAS Passive sonar

AN/SQQ-28 Light airborne multi-purpose system

AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare Suite

Armament: 2 × 61 cell Mk 41 vertical launch systems

122 × RIM-67 SM-2, BGM-109 Tomahawk, or RUM-139 VL-Asroc

8 × RGM-84 Harpoon missiles

2 × Mark 45 5 in / 54 cal lightweight gun

2 × 25 mm

2–4 × .50 cal (12.7 mm) gun

2 × Phalanx CIWS

2 × Mk 32 12.75 in (324 mm) triple torpedo tubes Aircraft carried: 2 x Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters. LOS ANGELES CLASS SUBMARINE USS PHILADELPHIA (SSN 690) General Characteristics Displacement: 5705 tons light, 6075 tons full, 370 tons dead Length: 110.3 m (362 ft)

Beam: 10 m (33 ft)

Draft: 9.7 m (32 ft)

Propulsion: one S6G reactor

Complement: 12 officers, 98 men

Armament:

4 x 21 in (533 mm) forward torpedo tubes

on SSNs 719-725 and 750-773, 12 Vertical Launch System tubes NIMITZ-GROUP Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) General Characteristics Displacement: 101,000 to 104,000 tons full load Length: Overall: 1,092 ft (333 m)

Waterline: 1,040 ft (317 m) Beam: Overall: 252 ft (76.8 m) Waterline: 134 ft (40.8 m)

Draft: Maximum navigational: 37 ft (11.3 m)

Limit: 41 ft (12.5 m)

Propulsion: 2 × Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors

4 × steam turbines

4 × shafts

260,000 shp (194 MW) Speed: 30+ knots (56+ km/h)

Range: Essentially unlimited

Complement: Ship's company: 3,200

Air wing: 2,480 Sensors and processing systems: SPS-48E 3-D air search radar

SPS-49(V)5 2-D air search radar

Mk 23 target acquisition radar

2 × SPN-46 air traffic control radars

SPN-43B air traffic control radar

SPN-44 landing aid radars

3 × Mk 91 NSSM guidance systems

3 × Mk 95 radars Electronic warfare and decoys: SLQ-32A(V)4 Countermeasures suite

SLQ-25A Nixie torpedo countermeasures

Armament: 2 × 21 cell Sea RAM

2 × Mk 29 Sea Sparrow

Armour: Unknown

Aircraft carried: 90 fixed wing and helicopters

Fixed wing aircraft

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

F/A-18 Hornet

EA-6B Prowler

E-2 Hawkeye

C-2 Greyhound Ticonderoga-class cruiser guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS John Paul Jones (DDG 53)

USS Higgins (DDG 76)

USS Chafee (DDG 90)

USS Pinckney (DDG 91) STENNIS-GROUP USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74)

Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier

As above Ticonderoga-class cruiser guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG-54) Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS O'Kane (DDG-77)

USS Howard (DDG-83)

USS Preble (DDG-88)

USS Halsey (DDG-97) Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigates USS Jarrett (FFG-33)

USS Rentz (FFG-46) General Characteristics Displacement: 4,100 tons (4,170 t) full load Length: 453 ft (138.1 m), overall Beam: 45 ft (13.7 m) Draught: 22 ft (6.7 m)

Propulsion: 2 × General Electric LM2500-30 gas turbines generating 41,000 shp (31 MW) through a single shaft and variable pitch propeller

Speed: 29+ knots (54+ km/h)

Range: 5,000 nm (9,300 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h)

Complement: 15 officers and 190 enlisted, plus SH-60 LAMPS detachment of roughly six officer pilots and 15 enlisted maintainers Sensors and processing systems: AN/SPS-49 air-search radar

AN/SPS-55 surface-search radar

CAS and STIR fire-control radar

AN/SQS-56 sonar. Electronic warfare and decoys: AN/SLQ-32 Armament: One OTO Melara Mk 75 76 mm/62 caliber naval gun

one Mk 13 Mod 4 single-arm launcher for |Harpoon anti-ship missiles and SM-1MR Standard anti-ship/air missiles (40 round magazine)

two Mk 32 triple-tube (324 mm) launchers for Mark 46 torpedoes

one Vulcan Phalanx CIWS; four .50-cal (12.7 mm) machine guns. Aircraft carried: 2 × SH-60 LAMPS III helicopters

That is an amazing amount of firepower. That is in reality about 300 planes and 1700 Tomahawk and Asroc missiles. To put that in perspective, during the first Gulf War the US used a total of 286 Tomahawks in that engagement. If joined by a fourth Carrier force those totals will jump to 400 planes and around 2200 Tomahawk and Asroc missiles.

For those of you who may not quite understand just how much power that is, that battle group is capable of causing more destruction than was caused in every war in the last century. Not just American wars, but all of the worlds wars in the last century.

So why would the U.S. put so much Naval power in the region? I am not sure what our intentions are. You might say with Iran thumbing their nose at the U.S. and the U.N. there is the possibility of a naval blockade of Iran. There is a distinct possibility of a blockade. However, the two carrier groups in the region could do so with out a problem. Could it just be saber rattling to intimidate Iran? I believe anyone who knows the military potential of two carrier groups would know that two is intimidating enough, but three and, according to promises made by Dick Cheney and reported to the FreeMarket News, a fourth still to come.

That is not only overkill and a waist of taxpayer money and might but I say that is extremely dangerous. Putting the Enterprise and three Nimitz class carriers in one place when there are only 10 Nimitz class carriers in the U.S Navy is illogical unless..... You plan to use them. Let’s say that the U.S. is all of the worlds oceans, this would be like putting four of eleven carriers in Rhodes Island. It would not make any sense unless you plan to invade Connecticut.

Also for those who don’t know that much about the Navy, The USS Enterprise and it’s predecessors have a long history of being where the action is and the Navy has a habit of using this type of hype for publicity reasons. Which in my opinion only goes to reinforce my belief that "The Big E" and her strike group are there for a reason.

Now let’s keep in mind the amount of power, the danger of that much of our naval power in one area and the Enterprise and the role that she and her namesakes have had in history and lets look at what else is going on in the U.S./Iran arena. Most recently on 6/26 the US's former Ambassador to the UN, Neo-Conservative John Bolton, told The Jerusalem Post:

"Sanctions and diplomacy have failed and it may be too late for internal opposition to oust the Islamist regime...the Bush administration does not recognize the urgency of the hour and that the options are now limited to only the possibility of regime change from within or (from) a last-resort military intervention."

So, what he in the past called "Simple air strikes " is no longer enough we must take action to change the regime. So that brings us back to nation building and we all know how well that has gone in the past. Although you do not have a significant Sunni population in Iran, like you do in Iraq, you will have steadfast resistance to any government that the US tries to prop up.

The second problem I have with Bolton’s comments, is that "sanctions and diplomacy have failed". What diplomacy? There was no diplomacy until pressure mounted by StopIranWar.com and Generals Wes Clark, Paul Eaton and John Batiste became so overwhelming that the administration had to act. Even then the diplomacy was only a token gesture. There was no real attempt by the administration to exit from this road to war that we currently travel.

Now I want to talk about #1 Neo-Con Dick Cheney. I want to look at several of his statements over the past few months and discuss them. First while on the USS Stennis on May 11, he said:

"The United States is prepared to use its naval power to keep Tehran from disrupting oil routes or gaining nuclear weapons and dominating this region."

Okay isn’t that really it, to keep Iran from blocking oil routes and dominating the region. It always comes back to the oil. The Neo-Cons which have proven on too many occasions that they are only interested in big business and these days the biggest business in the world is the oil business. As to the dominating the region, Cheney obviously feels that it is his job to dominate the middle east because, it is the home of the majority of the worlds oil supply.

With Cheney seemingly obsessed with a war with Iran, CBS and Political Animal reported the following on 6/1:

Political Animal) CHENEY AND IRAN....Remember that report from Steve Clemons last week about how Dick Cheney is hoping to get Israel to attack Iran in order to provoke a shooting war that will suck in the United States? Today in the New York Times, Helene Cooper confirms it: In interviews, people who have spoken with Mr. Cheney's staff have confirmed the broad outlines of the report, and said that some of the hawkish statements to outsiders were made by David Wurmser, a former Pentagon official who is now the principal deputy assistant to Mr. Cheney for national security affairs. Good 'ol David Wurmser. A neocon's neocon. Co-author in 1996 of "A Clean Break," the infamous document that proposed giving up on peace in the Middle East in favor of armed attacks on Syria, Iran, Lebanon, and, while we're at it, Iraq too. A man who proposed attacking South America in retaliation for 9/11. The guy who keeps Cheney bucked up when things look bad. Unsurprisingly, this news didn't go over well with non-crazy people During an interview with BBC Radio that was broadcast today, Mohamed ElBaradei, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he did not want to see another war like the one still raging in Iraq five years after the American-led invasion there. "You do not want to give additional argument to new crazies who say, 'let's go and bomb Iran,'" Mr. ElBaradei said, in his strongest warning yet against the use of force in Iran. ....Several Western European officials also echoed his concern, and said privately that they are worried that Mr. Cheney's "red lines" — the point at which he believes that Iran is on the brink of acquiring a nuclear weapon and a military strike is necessary — may be coming up soon. "We fully believe that Foggy Bottom is committed to the diplomatic track," one European official said Wednesday. "But there's some concern about the Vice President's office." And the White House's response? An unnamed senior official didn't Political Animal) CHENEY AND IRAN....Remember that report from Steve Clemons last week about how Dick Cheney is hoping to get Israel to attack Iran in order to provoke a shooting war that will suck in the United States? Today in the New York Times, Helene Cooper confirms it:

Seeing this report along with the Bolton interview in The Jerusalem Post, it appears that John Bolton is being a good little Neo-Con and helping his leader (Cheney) with his plan of goading Israel into attacking Iran. That of course would allow them to come to the aid of their ally and enter the Israeli/Iranian conflict.

Everything these and other Neo-Cons seem to be interested in is starting yet another unnecessary war. It seems if they cannot accomplish it one way, they will simply employ an end run and find another way. That is why it is so important that we, as Americans, take every possible step in preventing the Neo-Con/Big Business machine from starting a war that is only going to benefit them and not the common man in America.

So right now take the time to visit StopIranWar.com and sign the petition to the president but don’t stop there, go ahead and sign the petition to Congress. Do what ever you can do from printing the petitions and hitting the streets to getting signatures, or picking up the phone and calling your Congressman. We need as much support as possible so make sure to get your spouse, parents, adult children and friends to join you and visit StopIranWar.com and sign the petitions.

This is "Our America" make sure that it is clear to them which course we want it to take. That our interests should be their main concern, not the concerns of

big business.

Sign the Petitions