Media outlets and social media users recently spread alarming headlines about a massive American naval buildup featuring three aircraft carriers near Iran. However, this narrative relied on flawed arithmetic that simply added announced vessel locations together instead of tracking their actual movements. In reality, naval deployments function as rotations rather than reinforcements, where incoming ships are meant to relieve those already stationed in the region. For instance, while one carrier was headed to the Middle East, another had already departed the area for Thailand for a scheduled port visit. Ultimately, journalists failed to follow the ships, mistakenly transforming a routine fleet replacement into an exaggerated story of escalation.