USS Nimitz and Co.

Tonight I tried to have a late evening swim but failed. Apparently the pool water was too dirty (??). So I dropped by my local watering hole to have a drink and see who was about. I was the first of my crew to arrive and as I waited a clean cut man approached me and asked if I was on my own. I responded that at present I was. He enquired as to if I was US Navy. This question was a little out of my range, and I responded truthfully that no, I was not, I was in fact Canada English Teacher. He seemed very surprised and asked why on earth I'd be teaching English in Korea. Putting two and two together I surmised that he was new to these parts. Turns out he was in fact a Sonar Operator on a guide missile cruiser. That would be a vessel in support of the USS Nimitz, a massive US Naval ship currently docked in our fair Busan. Tim was in fact a real swell guy. He very concisely and diplomatically explained his role aboard his ship the USS Princeton (he listens for enemy submarines) as well some of the major features of the other ships in the team. Interesting indeed. He estimated the crew of the Minitz plus the crews of the other five or so support vessels put the number of US sailors currently in circulation around Busan at between 7 and 10 thousand. That's quite a night out on the town!
"U.S. aircraft carrier: USS Nimitz, a 97,000-ton U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, approaches Busan Thursday. The nuclear-powered carrier and its 5,300 crew members will join the annual exercise of South Korean and U.S. forces here. The exercise, Key Resolve, mainly aims to test the combined forces’ capability to host over 600,000 U.S. troops to be deployed here in case of an armed conflict while effectively defending the country from enemy hostilities."

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/nation_view.asp?newsIdx=19841&categoryCode=115