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Us Seventh Fleet News

24 Jul 2023

The Need for [U.S. Navy Shipbuilding] Speed

The world's largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) steams in the Adriatic Sea, June 23, 2023.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jackson Adkins)

The Navy wants, and needs, more ships; but it can’t build them fast enough.While the U.S. Navy aims to achieve a 355-ship fleet, it is decommissioning older (and some not so old) ships at about the same rate it's adding new ones.A Congressional Research Service report stated that, as of April 17, 2023, the Navy included 296 battle force ships. "The Navy projects that under its FY2024 budget submission, the Navy would include 293 battle force ships at the end of FY2024 and 291 battle force ships at the end of FY2028."But there is progress…

12 Apr 2022

U.S. Aircraft Carrier Deploys Off Korean Peninsula amid Tensions with North

For illustration - U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Aleksandr Freutel

The USS Abraham Lincoln strike group is operating in waters off the Korean peninsula, the U.S. Navy said on Tuesday, amid tensions over North Korea's missile launches and concerns that it could soon resume testing nuclear weapons."The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is conducting bilateral operations with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in the Sea of Japan," Commander Hayley Sims, a spokesperson for the Japan-based U.S. Seventh Fleet, said in a statement.This is the first time since 2017 that a carrier group has deployed to the waters between South Korea and Japan, and comes as U.S.

28 Jul 2021

U.S. Navy Asserts “Freedom of Navigation” in the South China Sea

Aircraft from Carrier Air Wing 5 and Carrier Air Wing 17 fly in formation over the Nimitz Carrier Strike Force (CSF). The USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) Carrier Strike Groups conducting dual carrier operations in the Indo-Pacific as the Nimitz CSF. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Keenan Daniels/Released)

“The United States military flies, sails, and operates anywhere international law allows.”The 1982 Law of the Sea Convention recognizes the rights and freedoms of all nations to engage in traditional uses of the sea. According to the Department of Defense 2020 Annual Freedom of Navigation Report to Congress, “Unlawful and sweeping maritime claims—or incoherent legal theories of maritime entitlement—that are inconsistent with international law pose a threat to the legal foundation of the rules-based international order.”Not all nations adhere to this principle.

06 Jul 2020

Vigor Wins $133 Mln US Navy Repair Job

File photo: Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG 85) (U.S. Navy photo Paul Kelly)

Vigor Marine has been awarded a $133,406,869 firm-fixed-price contract to prepare for and accomplish repair and alteration requirements for USS McCampbell (DDG 85) chief of naval operations scheduled depot maintenance availability. The contract includes options which, if exercised, will bring the cumulative value of this contract to $155,621,173.The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer departed Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan on July 2, and is currently is en route to Vigor's Portland, Ore. shipyard, where she will undergo her midlife modernization.

16 Jun 2020

USS Fitzgerald Exits Shipyard 3 Years After Fatal Collision

USS Fitzgerald prepares to depart the Ingalls shipyard to return to her homeport in San Diego. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Derek Fountain/Huntington Ingalls Industries)

The USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62), which suffered heavy damage and nearly sank off the coast of Japan after a fatal collision with a containership in 2017, departed Huntington Ingalls Industries' Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. Saturday following two years of extensive repairs and upgrades. Seven U.S. Navy sailors died when the guided-missile destroyer collided with the Philippine-flagged ACX Crystal on June 17, 2017. USS Fitzgerald was damaged on her starboard side above and below the waterline during the collision…

26 Apr 2019

Survey Vessel Joins Hunt for Lost F-35

© zapper/Adobe Stock

Japan expanded its search for a missing F-35 stealth fighter on  with a maritime survey vessel joining a navy ship and a U.S. Navy salvage team is expected in the area in coming days, a Japanese air force spokesman said.Only small pieces of the Japanese Air Self Defense Force aircraft's tail have been found since the advanced jet disappeared from radar screens during an exercise with three other F-35s over the Pacific, near northwest Japan, on April 9."The plane and the pilot are still missing," the air force spokesman said.

04 Nov 2018

U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Visits New Zealand

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson visited New Zealand, Nov. 2 and 3, to meet with New Zealand naval leadership to discuss deepening the U.S.-New Zealand naval partnership and recognize New Zealand’s role as a leader in regional security. During the visit, Richardson met with his counterpart, Rear Adm. John Martin, Chief of the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN) to discuss opportunities to increase interoperability through more combined operations and personnel exchanges.“We are two very like nations,” said Richardson. “We share the same values. We are two maritime nations. Our navies operate together, and we’re two nations that are dedicated to a free and open Indo-Pacific region that allows for the prosperity of everybody.”Richardson presented a U.S.

11 Apr 2018

British Warship to Help Police North Korean Sanctions

HMS Sutherland (File photo courtesy of the Royal Navy)

A British warship “changed its deployment” and arrived in Japan on Wednesday to join efforts to police U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs. The Royal Navy frigate HMS Sutherland arrived at Yokosuka, the headquarters of Japan’s Maritime Defence Force fleet and home port of the U.S. Seventh Fleet’s carrier strike group. It “will be contributing to the international efforts to monitor prohibited trade at sea by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)…

20 Nov 2017

US Navy Rolls out New Measures after Deadly Collisions

Significant visible damage to USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) following a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while underway east of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore on Aug. 21. (U.S. Navy photo by Madailein Abbott)

The U.S. Navy has introduced new measures aimed at avoiding a repeat of two deadly crashes in the Asia Pacific region involving its warships and commercial vessels following a review of its practices, the Seventh Fleet commander said on Monday. Vice Admiral Phillip Sawyer’s comments come after a U.S. guided-missile destroyer was slightly damaged at the weekend when a Japanese tug drifted into it during a towing exercise off central Japan, the latest incident in the Pacific this year involving ships from the fleet. The U.S.

20 Nov 2017

US Warship Damaged in Collision with Tug off Japan

File photo: Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold (DDG 65) in August 2017 (U.S. Navy photo by Benjamin A. Lewis)

A U.S. guided-missile destroyer, USS Benfold, sustained slight damage when a Japanese tug drifted into it during a towing exercise off central Japan on Saturday, the U.S. Navy said. “No one was injured on either vessel and Benfold sustained minimal damage, including scrapes on its side, pending a full damage assessment,” a statement from the U.S. Seventh Fleet said. “Benfold remains at sea under her own power. The Japanese commercial tug is being towed by another vessel to a port in Yokosuka. The incident will be investigated,” it said. The incident was the latest mishap involving a U.S.

05 Oct 2017

USS John S. McCain to be Repaired in Yokosuka

The Navy will repair the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) at the U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility-Japan Regional Maintenance Center in Yokosuka, Japan. Repairs will begin upon arrival from Singapore aboard a heavy lift vessel in October. Damage assessments conducted while the ship was moored in Singapore since the Aug. 21 collision revealed the scope of work could be completed in Japan at the lowest estimated cost and returns the ship to full service at the earliest opportunity. Repairing the ship in Yokosuka, where it is already part of the Forward Deployed Naval Forces (FDNF) assigned to U.S. Seventh Fleet, also provides stability and continuity to crew members and their families.

25 Aug 2017

Second Body Recovered from USS McCain

(U.S. Navy photo by Joshua Fulton)

U.S Navy and Marine Corps divers have recovered and identified a second body in the search for ten sailors missing after a collision between a guided-missile destroyer and merchant vessel near Singapore earlier this week, the U.S. Navy said on Friday. The USS John S. McCain collided with the merchant tanker in waters near Singapore and Malaysia on Monday, which led to an international search-and-rescue operation for the missing sailors. The navy recovered the first body from inside the hull of the warship earlier this week.

24 Aug 2017

US Navy Identifies 1 Dead, 9 Missing USS McCain Sailors

Damage to the portside of guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain following a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while underway east of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore (U.S. Navy photo by Joshua Fulton)

The U.S. Navy on Thursday confirmed the identity of one sailor killed after the warship USS John S. McCain collided with a merchant vessel in waters near Singapore and Malaysia, and of nine missing sailors. "After more than 80 hours of multinational search efforts, the U.S. Navy suspended search and rescue efforts for missing USS John S. McCain sailors in an approximately 2,100-square mile area east of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore," the U.S. Seventh Fleet said on its website. U.S.

18 Aug 2017

U.S. Navy Punishes Senior Staff in Deadly Warship Collision

Commanders of U.S. warship removed after cargo ship collision; seven sailors killed in June collision. The U.S. Navy has removed the two senior officers and the senior enlisted sailor on a U.S. warship that almost sank off the coast of Japan in June after it was struck by a Philippine container ship, the Navy said on Friday. Multiple investigations have yet to apportion blame for the accident that killed seven U.S. sailors aboard the guided missile destroyer the USS Fitzgerald. However, the punishments are the first public admission by the U.S. Navy that mistakes by the crew contributed to the deadliest incident on a U.S. warship since Islamist extremists bombed the USS Cole in Yemen's Aden harbour in 2000. "The collision was avoidable and both ships demonstrated poor seamanship.

08 Aug 2017

US to Haul Stricken Destroyer from Japan to US for Repairs

USS Fitzgerald collided with a freighter in Japanese waters on June 17 (U.S. Navy photo by Peter Burghart)

The U.S. Navy on Tuesday said it will haul the guided missile destroyer severely damaged in a collision with a freighter in Japanese waters back to the United States for repairs as soon as September. The collision killed seven sailors aboard the USS Fitzgerald and ripped a hole below the vessels waterline. Naval engineers in Japan have patched up the destroyer but extensive damage that nearly sank the warship means it is unable to sail under its own steam. "The Fitzgerald may be moved in September but it could be later than that," a spokesman for the U.S. Seventh Fleet said. The U.S.

13 Mar 2017

Japan Plans to Send Largest Warship to South China Sea

Japan plans to dispatch its largest warship on a three-month tour through the South China Sea beginning in May, three sources said, in its biggest show of naval force in the region since World War Two. China claims almost all the disputed waters and its growing military presence has fueled concern in Japan and the West, with the United States holding regular air and naval patrols to ensure freedom of navigation. The Izumo helicopter carrier, commissioned only two years ago, will make stops in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka before joining the Malabar joint naval exercise with Indian and U.S. naval vessels in the Indian Ocean in July. It will return to Japan in August, the sources said.

17 May 2016

India, US Meet for First Maritime Security Dialogue

India and the U.S. held the first round of discussions under the recently-constituted maritime security dialogue between officials of Defence and External Affairs ministries and their U.S. counterparts. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs David Shear, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Manpreet Anand and Vice Admiral Aucoin, Commander, U.S. Seventh Fleet, met with their Indian counterparts from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Defense to discuss strategic maritime security issues. “Among the issues discussed were Asia-Pacific maritime challenges, naval cooperation, and multilateral engagement,” the U.S. Embassy said. U.S.

25 Feb 2016

Navy Competes for Resources at Home, against Asymmetric Threats Abroad

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson speaks at the 28th annual Surface Navy Association Symposium in the Crystal City section of Arlington, Va. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jessica Bidwell)

The U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations Adm. The document presents Richardson’s priorities with four “lines of effort” to strengthen naval power at and from the sea; achieve high velocity learning at every level; strengthen our Navy team for the future’ and expand and strengthen our network of partners. It isn’t an earth-shattering document, and perhaps is most telling for what it doesn’t say, as opposed to what is says. The document makes a strong case for forward presence, which has been the raison d’etre for the U.S. Navy for decades.

14 Jan 2016

Shipping Unscathed as China Flights Raise South China Sea Tension

China's growing military presence in the South China Sea has drawn warnings from the United States that Beijing is seeking to exert control over one of the world's most important sea lanes, but so far the shipping industry seems less concerned. Beijing has been increasingly assertive in staking its claim to almost the whole of the sea, though which trillions of dollars of trade passes each year. This month China landed its first test flights on a new 3,000 metre (10,000 ft) runway it has built on a reef in the Spratly Islands, drawing protests from Vietnam and the Philippines which have overlapping claims in the area. Despite the diplomatic tensions, merchant shipping says operations are, as yet, unaffected.

14 Aug 2015

Japan Joins U.S.-Philippine Naval Drills; Tensions Rise

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.

31 Mar 2015

Japan, U.S. Look to Expand Naval Cooperation

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's push to allow Tokyo to come to the aid of an ally under attack will pave the way for closer cooperation between U.S. and Japanese forces across Asia, a top U.S. commander said on Tuesday. Expanded training and joint missions could extend from Japan through the disputed South China Sea - claimed in whole or part by China, Vietnam, the Philippines and other nations - into the Indian Ocean. Neither the United States nor Japan have territorial claims in the South China Sea, but the Seventh Fleet operates in the area. A Japanese naval presence there could irritate Beijing. Abe's government plans to submit bills to parliament in coming months to ratify his cabinet's decision last year to allow Japan to exercise its right of collective self-defense.

30 Jul 2014

CARAT Naval Exercises Kick Off in Singapore

The 20th annual exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) Singapore commenced with an opening ceremony at Changi Naval Base, says US Navy Task Force 73 Public Affairs. In its 20th year, CARAT Singapore is part of a series of bilateral naval exercises between the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps and the armed forces of nine partner nations in South and Southeast Asia. Vice Adm. Robert Thomas, commander, U.S. 7th Fleet, [pictured here] delivered remarks before several hundred participating U.S. Navy Sailors and members of the Republic of Singapore navy. Thomas noted that CARAT Singapore stood out as the premier navy engagement since the exercise series began in 1995.

20 Jul 2015

Naval Symposium Examines Ship Capabilities, Career Options

Vice Adm. Tom Rowden (E.H. Lundquist photo)

The annual Surface Navy Association (SNA) West Coast Symposium was held on the waterfront at Naval Station San Diego on July 16, and provided attendees an update on some key operational and career developments important to the surface warfare community. Capt. Mark Johnson, president of the SNA San Diego Chapter, was the host and master of ceremonies for the symposium. Capt. Warren Buller, commander of LCS Squadron 1, provided a comprehensive update on the LCS program, to include a detailed summary of the status of mission package development.