This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 87%. (I'm a bot)

> The crew of a giant US aircraft carrier in European waters says they are ready to fight Russia if the call comes but their mission is to deter threats and prevent escalation.

> The vicinity of Russia's military and the knowledge that Russian forces are locked in a brutal war with Ukraine - which is not part of NATO but shares borders with members of the alliance - means operating in Europe is no longer just another peacetime training exercise for the more than 5,000-strong crew of US sailors on the carrier.

> He said this was also only the third time since the end of the Cold War that a US aircraft carrier group has come under NATO command, with all three of those occasions happening as part of Neptune drills in the past year.

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