Japanese Navy News

Two Japanese navy helicopters crashed into the sea during a training exercise, killing at least one of the eight crew members on board, the defence minister said on Sunday.The two SH-60 patrol helicopters were conducting anti-submarine exercises on Saturday night near Torishima in the remote Izu island group, off the southern coast of central Japan.Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told a press conference the cause of the crash is under investigation. The two flight recorders had been discovered in close proximity to each other and the probability was high that the two helicopters had collided…

A privately funded mission has found, surveyed and filmed the USS Johnston, the world’s deepest known shipwreck, offshore Samar Island in the Philippines Sea.The expedition was backed by Victor Vescovo, is an entrepreneur, explorer and retired U.S. Navy Commander who personally piloted his submersible DSV Limiting Factor down to the wreck during two separate, eight-hour dives 21,180 feet (6,456 meters) below the ocean's surface. These constituted the deepest wreck dives, manned or unmanned…

HMS Argyll has hunted down submarines in the Philippine Sea during exercises with allied navies from Japan and the United States.This was the first time these navies have combined like this as they tested their specialist anti-submarine warfare skills.Japan’s helicopter destroyer JS Izumo worked with the Plymouth-based frigate to hunt down a US Navy Submarine, which was playing the part of the enemy during two days of training.Argyll has already worked alongside the Japanese navy…

The U.S. Navy accepted delivery of the 17th submarine of the Virginia class, the future USS South Dakota (SSN 790), on September 24.The next-generation attack submarine began construction in 2013 and is scheduled to be commissioned in early 2019.South Dakota is the seventh Virginia-class Block III submarine. Block III submarines feature a redesigned bow with enhanced payload capabilities, replacing 12 individual vertical launch tubes with two large-diameter Virginia Payload Tubes, each capable of launching six Tomahawk cruise missiles.

Servicemembers assigned to Military Sealift Command hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) made a brief mission stop, March 20, near Ulithi Atoll, part of the Caroline Islands in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). This is the first official engagement of Pacific Partnership 2018 (PP18), where Mercy will be sailing near Ulithi Atoll and using helicopters to deliver medical supplies to a advanced echelon team of PP18 medical professionals embarked on USNS Brunswick (T-EPF 6), the secondary mission platform.

A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, the Ronald Reagan, is conducting drills with a Japanese warship in waters around Okinawa southwest of the Korean peninsula, Japan's military said on Wednesday.   The exercise comes amid heightened tension with North Korea as the U.S. holds air drills in the region with B1-B bombers flown from Guam.   The exercise with the Reagan strike group, which began on Saturday, involves vessels sailing from the Bashi Channel, which separates the Philippines and Taiwan, to seas around Japan's southwest island nearer to North Korea, Japan's Maritime Self Defence Force said in a statement.   One Japanese destroyer, the Shimkaze, is accompanying the 100,000-ton Reagan, which is based in Japan, and its escort ships, the JMSDF said.   Reporting by Tim Kelly

The U.S. Navy carrier Ronald Reagan is conducting drills with Japanese warships in seas south of the Korean peninsula, Japan's military said on Friday, in a show of naval power as Pyongyang threatens further nuclear and missile tests. The Reagan strike group will conduct a separate drill with the South Korean Navy in October, the defence ministry said in a statement distributed to South Korean lawmakers on Monday. The 100,000-ton Reagan, which is based in Japan, and its escort ships have been holding drills with Japanese navy vessels since Sept 11 in waters south and west of Japan's main islands, the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force said in a statement.

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) Ship Teruzuki visited Kochi from 09 to 11 September 2017. Captain Masashi Kondo, Commander Escort Division Six is sailing onboard JS Teruzuki, a destroyer which is being commanded by Commander Seiichi Hashimoto. Captain Masashi Kondo, Commander Escort Division Six accompanied by the Commanding Officer of Japanese Ship Teruzuki had called on Rear Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, VSM, the Chief Staff Officer (Training) of Southern Naval Command (SNC) on 09 September 2017 wherein professional subjects of common interest to both navies were discussed. On 10 September 2017, Atsushi Miura, Superintendent Japan Coast Guard…

“No new fishing vessel has been (added) during the period,” says the email we get from Japan’s largest seafood company, Maruha Nichiro Corp. A year earlier, they had bought shares in New Zealand outfit, Sanford, which had just chartered a Nordic-looking vessel. Seafood rival, Nissui, had just done the same, buying New Zealand and Nordic. That all happened after the Naval Architect’s Society of Japan said a vessel based on the Icelandic design of Reykjavik’s Navis was its Ship of the Year.

Surviving Australian veterans of the Battle of the Coral Sea will be flown to New York next month to commemorate the battle’s 75th anniversary. Staff Officer Heritage Research at the Sea Power Centre Lieutenant Commander Desmond Woods said Australian veterans of the battle were being sponsored by the American Australia Association. “The president of the Association, John Berry, is holding a dinner on board the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Intrepid for Australian and US veterans,” he said. Lieutenant Commander Woods said the battle was a turning point for Australia in the Second World War. He said Australians would rightly honour Australian troops who in August 1942, were making their heroic stand, fighting and dying, at Isurava and on the Kokoda Track battlefields.

HMAS Warramunga transited the Sunda Strait on Remembrance Day, where Australian light cruiser HMAS Perth I was lost in 1942.. Ship’s company fell silent to reflect on the loss and the sound of the engines and the crashing of the waves could be heard. Commanding Officer Warramunga, Commander Dugald Clelland led the at sea commemoration. “We are within 17 nautical miles of where HMAS Perth I, was lost and 375 of her 680 strong crew,” he said. Perth I, the American heavy cruiser USS Houston and a major Imperial Japanese Navy task force were involved in the Second World War action. Both Allied ships and five Japanese ships were sunk. Those who survived became Japanese prisoners of war. liberated in 1945.

1861 - While commanding a gunboat flotilla, Cmdr. James Harmon Ward is mortally wounded by a musket ball while aiming the bow gun of his flagship, USS Thomas Freeborn at Mathias Point, Va. Ward is the first US Naval officer casualty of the Civil War. 1898 - During the Spanish-American War, the 301-ton yacht Hornet captures the Spanish steamer Benito Estenger off Cape Cruz, Cuba. 1916 - At the Battle of Los Trencheros during the Dominican Campaign in the Dominican Republic, the Fourth Marine Regiment withstands an attack by Dominican insurgent forces. 1945 - PV-1 (VPB 142) sinks the Japanese submarine I 165, 450 miles east of Saipan, Mariana Islands. 1945 - USS Blueback (SS 326) sinks Imperial Japanese Navy submarine chaser, (CH 2), north of Lombok, Java Sea.

Humber tugboat operator SMS Towage has drawn on an old name for the latest addition to its fleet. The new Englishman is the 11th Humber tug to bear the title, in a tradition stretching back to the 19th century. Built at the Sanmar yard on the edge of Istanbul to a Canadian design, she produces 3,500bhp and can bring in 270m long ships of more than 170,000 metric tons dead weight. The 25m £3.5m vessel is capable of 13 knots and is among the most maneuverable on the estuary. She is one of 13 owned by Hull-based SMS Towage…

1848 - U.S. Navy expedition to explore the Dead Sea and the River Jordan, commanded by Lt. William F. Lynch, reaches the Dead Sea. 1906 - U.S. Navy assists in relief operations during the San Francisco earthquake and fire. Sailors and Marines fight fires and ships carry the homeless and injured to Vallejo, where medical personnel established emergency facilities. 1942 - The Doolittle Raid begins with 16 Army Air Force B-25 bombers launching earlier than expected from USS Hornet (CV 8), approximately 650 miles off Japan, after being spotted by enemy ships. It is the first attack by the U.S. of the Japanese mainland since Pearl Harbor. Most of the 16 B-25s, each with a five-man crew, attack the Tokyo area, with a few hitting Nagoya.

Two Japanese destroyers and a submarine  have arrived to the major Philippine port of Subic, , the first in 15 years, to uphold “peace and stability” in the region, the Philippine Navy have said. The port of Subic is located in the vicinity of the disputed South China Sea water routes. The training submarine Oyashio, accompanied by the destroyers Ariake and Setogiri, made the  port call at Subic Bay, home of a former U.S. naval base, ahead of planned open sea drills. Manila is seeking to strengthen ties with Tokyo as tensions mount over the disputed waterway, almost all of which is claimed by China. Some 500 Japanese personnel, including 55 officer candidates, are taking part in the confidence-building exercise.

The United States and India have held talks about conducting joint naval patrols that a U.S. defense official said could include the disputed South China Sea, a move that would likely anger Beijing, which claims most of the waterway. Washington wants its regional allies and other Asian nations to take a more united stance against China over the South China Sea, where tensions have spiked in the wake of Beijing's construction of seven man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago.

Japan said on Tuesday it has told China that any foreign naval vessel that enters Japanese waters for reasons other than "innocent passage" will be told to leave by a Japanese naval patrol, signalling a potential escalation in a long-running dispute. Japan had informed China of its decision in November, after Chinese navy ships sailed near disputed isles in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference. Japan's government, Suga said, had approved the course of action last May. "If a foreign naval vessel transits our waters for (purposes) other than 'innocent passage', we will order a sea patrol and take the step of having the Self-Defense Force unit order withdrawal," Suga told a news conference.

Naval forces and liaisons from India, Japan and United States begin Exercise Malabar 2015, Oct. 16, through air defense collaboration. The featured cooperation consists of aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), Carrier Airwing (CVW) 1, Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60) and Indian frigate INS Shivalik (F 47). Exercise Malabar is an annual event designed to enhance naval cooperation through engagement with India and Japan while demonstrating U.S. Naval presence in the Indo-Asia region. "We launched aircraft from TR to simulate scenarios to exercise the Indian's self-defense," said Lt. Sean McDonnell, Normandy's air defense officer.

India, Japan and the United States kicked off the first joint naval exercises  in the Bay of Bengal in eight years and such drills will occur each year, Indian government sources said. The Japanese Maritime-Self Defense Force (JMSF) confimed that it will Permanently Join US-India Naval Exercises. An announcement will be made shortly  re-designating what had hitherto been officially an Indian-U.S. bilateral military exercise into a trilateral India-U.S.-Japan event, according to the Business Standard. While Japan’s participation is not new—the JMSF have joined in 2007, 2009, and 2014 respectively—it will be the first time that the Japanese Navy will not be a foreign invitee but rather a permanent member of the annual trilateral naval drill.

Japan has joined U.S.-led maritime humanitarian exercises off the Philippines for the first time, as concerns mount among the three allies about China's growing assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea. A Japanese navy replenishment ship was in Subic Bay, a former U.S. naval base, to refuel a U.S. Navy floating hospital en route to Vietnam for the seven-nation humanitarian mission. It was the first time a Japanese navy ship has taken part in the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief drills although a flotilla of Japanese training vessels, including a submarine, makes annual port calls in Manila. Rear Admiral Charles Williams, commander of U.S.

Japan will send a high-level delegation to Adelaide for talks on building Australia's next-generation fleet of submarines. A former commander of the Japanese navy will head a 40-strong delegation to Australia next month to negotiate roles for local industry in building submarines, should Japan win the contract to provide them. Admiral Takashi Saito is a veteran submariner who has played a key role in military diplomacy with Japan’s allies in the region and with China. Australia’s “competitive evaluation process” is pitting Japanese, German, and French submarine builders against each other in a bid to secure a A$50 billion ($38.84 billion) contract to build six to 12 submarines for the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

The U.S. Navy has decommissioned its last remaining Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate on the West coast as past and current crew, plank owners, former and current commanding officers, namesake relatives and friends and family gathered at Naval Base San Diego July 23 to bid farewell to USS Gary (FFG 51) after 31 years of service. The decommissioning ceremony was led by the ship's Commanding Officer Cmdr. Steven McDowell, with guest speakers including Hon. William Albrecht, World War II veteran and a recipient of the Bronze Star, and retired Capt. Dallas Bethea.

Naval officers say accord does not directly address problems in disputed waters, but document could be initial step towards guarding against conflict. U.S. has long stood for clearer operational communications with Chinese fleet. Countries embroiled in territorial rows in the East and South China Seas agreed on Tuesday to abide by a maritime communications deal to try to ensure accidental naval altercations do not develop into a conflict. But military officers said the non-binding accord, signed altogether by more than 20 Pacific countries, was no more than a "rules of the road" manual. It was in no way meant to resolve territorial disputes pitting China against several neighbours over waters where fears of accidental clashes have raised the risk of broader turmoil.