 In reality on April 18, the "Carl Vinson" and its escorts were 3,500 miles from Korea engaged in scheduled joint Royal Australian Navy exercises in the Indian Ocean.The "Carl Vinson" aircraft carrier had been in the South China Sea in 2015 and again in February 2017 on routine patrols.In late April 2017, Trump stated that "[t]here is a chance that we [the United States] could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea".