TAKE OFF IN THE INDIAN OCEAN: A USMC F-35B Lightning takes off from amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island. The USN task force is operating off the coast of Somalia. Photo taken December 22. The aircraft on the flight deck are MV-22 Ospreys. Here’s an MV-22 approaching the flight deck of the USS Wasp. It’s a decent snapshot of the aircraft but the background, the pastel sky above the the Philippine Sea, is fabulous.

RELATED: Here’s another photo of an F-35B “thrust-vectoring” at take-off. The supersonic F-35B typically uses a “short roll” to take-off. It can land vertically. Of course there’s an acronym for this type of aircraft, V/STOL –Vertical, Short Take Off and Landing. Here’s an essay of mine from 2017 discussing the renaissance of light aircraft carriers. A USN assault ship isn’t a classic light carrier, at least in the WW2 sense of the term (a CVL). However, “…A dozen F-35Bs give an assault ship a small but credible multi-mission aircraft squadron, capable of intercepting enemy aircraft and enemy cruise missiles and conducting strike missions.” In December 2020 off the Somali coast the USS Makin Island is an amphibious assault ship doing double duty as a light aircraft carrier.