PHILIPPINE SEA (Aug. 17, 2022) - Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (Equipment) Airman James Cook, from Charlotte, North Carolina, guides the tow bar of an F/A-18E Super Hornet, attached to the Dambusters of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 195 into a catapult shuttle aboard the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) in the Philippine Sea, Aug. 17. The Dambusters earned their nickname on May 1, 1951 when the squadron's Skyraiders destroyed the heavily defended and strategically positioned Hwacheon Dam in North Korea with aerial torpedoes by making precise low level runs. Ronald Reagan, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5, provides a combat-ready force that protects and defends the United States, and supports alliances, partnerships and collective maritime interests in the Indo-Pacific region.

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