HANOI: The US Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington arrived in Vietnam’s Danang on Thursday for a five-day visit, the latest sign of growing ties between Washington and Hanoi. The port call comes nearly three years after the United States and Vietnam upgraded relations to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in September 2023. The visit is the fourth by a US aircraft carrier since the end of the Vietnam War and the first since USS Ronald Reagan called at Danang in June 2023.

This marks just the third visit of an American Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier since USS Carl Vinson made its first port call in March 2018

A 79-year-old veteran of war with America sees the carrier’s visit as proof of how far relations have come.