The mission was the first dual-carrier operation to take place in the South China Sea since last July.
The presence of US forces in the contested waters also comes just days after the USS John S McCain destroyer sailed near to the Paracel Islands.
The US navy said the vessels were conducting a “freedom of navigation operation” in order to maintain peace in the region.
Most notably it was also the first time a US operation had taken place in the waterways since Joe Biden was inaugurated as US President.
The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group was deployed to the South China Sea (Image: GETTY)
Two U.S. carrier groups conduct exercises in South China Sea By Se Young Lee
FILE PHOTO: The USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) is pictured as it enters the port in Da Nang, Vietnam
(Reuters) – Two U.S. carrier groups conducted joint exercises in the South China Sea on Tuesday, days after a U.S. warship sailed near Chinese-controlled islands in the disputed waters, as China denounced the United States for damaging peace and stability.
The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group “conducted a multitude of exercises aimed at increasing interoperability between assets as well as command and control capabilities”, the U.S. Navy said, marking the first dual carrier operations in the busy waterway since July 2020.
The exercise comes days after China condemned the sailing of the destroyer, the USS John S. McCain, near the Chinese-controlled Paracel Islands in what the United States calls a freedom of navigation operation - the first such mission by the U.S. navy since President Joe Biden took office.