Well, everything is relative. They are certainly better than Debkafile, an Israeli source that once claimed there was a fleet of destroyers in the Indian Ocean that did not exist. They also tend to sensationalize though, frankly, I enjoy the non-American point of view. Had you asked this question three weeks ago I would have given Stratfor a qualified yes for accuracy, but after they misplaced the USS Stennis and said it was in home port when it wasn't, I have begun to question them. I will give them credit for not being partisan in their outlook. They have this theory that world events dictate what presidents can and will do, and that it doesn't matter which party is in power. This will be an interesting test of that theory (and they know it, too.)
In terms of the placement of the strike groups I mentioned above, I believe that to be accurate because it is corraborated by other sources, including the Navy Times, which also publishes a weekly map for comparison. The Stennis is now in the Gulf if Alaska, and that has also been corraborated by local news sources. The Washington is forward based in Yokosuka, Japan and is always hanging around there. The Reagan is in Singapore at the moment.
I don't think I mentioned this before, but each strike group, though it is centered on a carrier, has approximately ten ships. These include several Arleigh-Burke class destroyers, a cruiser (just a big destroyer), a supply ship, and a fast attack submarine. They sail in a formation designed to protect the carrier. They are completely tied together electronically. Their defense systems are designed to form an invsible bubble over the entire group. They can take out attacking Exocet-type missiles before they get in range and they can also take down satellites or, more to the point, ICBMs. With the supply ship for replenishment (which is the second biggest ship in the group) they are also completely self-contained. They can last 6-8 months under combat conditions and far longer if they are behaving themselves. Each destroyer, which is actually bigger than a WWII era cruiser, has 90 launch cells for cruise missiles. I don't know how many they actually have on board, but this means each strike group likely has over 500 at any given time.
The six strike groups based on the East Coast are all in Norfolk, Virginia. The five on the West Coast are more spread out. We have two in Puget Sound: The Lincoln is based in Everett because of the tide problem I mentioned last time. It otherwise would have been in Bremerton. There are two in San Diego and one in Japan. At any given time there are probably two or three carriers that are non-deployable because of maintenance. That leaves 8 or 9 that are combat ready.
