The US admiral who ordered an aircraft carrier and other warships toward the Korean Peninsula in a much-hyped deployment took responsibility Wednesday for any "confusion" after the ships sailed in the opposite direction.
Amid soaring tensions ahead of North Korea's apparent ramping up for a sixth nuclear test, the US Navy on April 8 said it was directing a naval strike group headed by the USS Carl Vinson carrier to "sail north" from the waters off Singapore, as a "prudent measure" to deter Pyongyang.
But the ships actually went the other way, sailing south from Singapore and toward Australia to conduct drills with the Australian navy -- though they subsequently did turn north.
"That's my fault on the confusion and I'll take the hit for it," Admiral Harry Harris, who heads the US military's Pacific Command, told lawmakers.
"Where I failed was to communicate that adequately to the press and the media, so that is all on me."
Noting that the ships had eventually gone on to sail toward the Korean Peninsula, Harris said they are still en route.
Read the full story at SpaceDaily