American aircraft carrier to visit Vietnam as part of growing defense relationship | SOFREP

Thanks for sharing the news LTC Ivan Raiklin, Esq. that an unspecified American aircraft carrier [most likely the entire aircraft carrier group] "will visit Vietnam in 2018, the first such visit since the end of the Vietnam War, the Pentagon announced this week.
The announcement coincided with a visit between Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and his Vietnamese counterpart Ngo Xuan Lich in Washington D.C. The historic visit of a U.S. warship is part of a growing defense relationship between the two countries as a counter to Chinese influence in the South China Sea. Mattis sees the relationship as part of ensuring freedom of navigation in the geographically significant area."