USS Carl Vinson strike group arrives | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARAVERTISER.COM

The USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) aircraft carrier arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickham on Wednesday evening after five month deployment to the Western Pacific. Above, USN linemen awaiting for the arrival of the USS Carl Vinson.

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARAVERTISER.COM

Sara Black, second from left, was greeted by her mother, Marlene, left, and sisters Dana and Paige. Her mother has been cooking for the past three days, making her daughter’s special requests like homemade Portuguese bean soup. Black plans on eating, going to the beach, seeing friends and going to the gym.

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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARAVERTISER.COM

The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) arrived at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Wednesday evening after a fi vemonth deployment to the Western Pacifi c. At bottom, linemen awaitedw the ship’s arrival. Above, sailors left the ship to go ashore during the carrier’s scheduled two-day stop in Honolulu.

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More than 6,000 sailors with the USS Carl Vinson strike group are in town with the carrier and escort ships pulling into Pearl Harbor following a five-month deployment.

The San Diego-based carrier arrived Wednesday. Destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and the Hawaii-based USS Michael Murphy, and the cruiser USS Lake Champlain arrived in Pearl Harbor on Tuesday.

The Vinson, Meyer and Lake Champlain will be in Hawaii for a short period before heading back to San Diego, the Navy said.

During the deployment, which started Jan. 5, the Vinson and the carrier USS Ronald Reagan conducted rare two-carrier joint training in the Sea of Japan at the end of May and in early June in a massive show of force aimed at North Korea.

The Japan News reported the U.S.-Japan exercise was “unprecedented in size,” with the U.S. carriers sailing with Japan’s Hyuga helicopter carrier and followed by eight U.S. warships and a Japanese destroyer.

The Vinson stopped at Guam; Busan, South Korea; and Singapore, the Navy said. — William Cole, Star-Advertiser