On April 8, with tensions rising on the Korean peninsula, Adm. Harry Harris, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, ordered the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and its support ships to head toward Korea, in what was widely seen as a show of force and warning for North Korea. Everybody seems to have expected the Vinson strike group to actually move toward the Koreas, but as of Saturday, it was some 3,500 miles south, off the coast of Sumatra, after taking part in scheduled joint exercises with Australian forces. U.S.