This post has been updated with additional information on the movements of Chinese carrier CNS Shandong.
The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is now operating in the Philippine Sea following a port visit to Guam, while elsewhere, a U.S. Navy destroyer carried out a Taiwan Strait passage on Wednesday while a U.S. littoral combat ship carried out a joint sail in the South China Sea with an Australian destroyer on Friday.
A U.S. Navy release stated that the Nimitz CSG led by its flagship aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68), is operating in the Philippine Sea, demonstrating the ship’s operational readiness and the U.S. Navy’s commitment to a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.
“Operating forward as a strike group hones our ability to maintain persistent and capable forces at sea, always ready to provide our leaders with a broad spectrum of military capabilities to respond to any crisis or contingency,” Rear Adm. Maximilian Clark, commander, of Carrier Strike Group 11, said in the release.
The Nimitz CSG wrapped a port visit to Guam on Monday, having arrived there on April 18, along with its CSG escorts, destroyers USS Gridley (DDG-101) and USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG-123). Destroyers USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54) and USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG-108) also deployed out as part of the CSG when it departed Naval Base Kitsap on Mar. 21 but Wayne E. Meyer sailed on to the U.S. Central Command area of operations to join the Carl Vinson CSG. Curtis Wilbur detached from the CSG to make a port visit to Saipan on April 17 and subsequently pulled into Guam on Monday.
On Friday, the Shandong CSG sailed out of the Philippine Sea to return to the East China Sea, according to a Japan Joint Staff Office release on Saturday. The JSO release stated that from Wednesday to Friday, Shandong carried out approximately 130 take-offs and landings of its embarked air wing with approximately 70 launches and recovery of its embarked fighter aircraft and approximately 60 take-offs and landings of its embarked helicopters. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Ariake (DD-109) monitored the PLAN CSG, according to the release. The release also provided the location and composition of the Shandong CSG during its three days in the Philippine Sea as follows:
Wednesday, April 23
Position: 435 miles south of Miyako Island
Carrier: CNS Shandong (17)
Cruiser: CNS Yan’an (106)
Frigate: CNS Hengsui (572)
Thursday, April 24
Position: 410 miles south of Yonaguni Island
Carrier: Shandong
Cruiser: Yan’an
Destroyer: CNS Zhanjiang (165)
Frigate: Hengsui
Friday, April 25
Position: 323 miles south of Yonaguni Island
Carrier: Shandong
Cruisers: Yan’an and CNS Xiangyang (108)
Frigate: Hengsui
Philippine Television Channel ABS-CBN News, citing a Philippine Navy spokesperson, reported that one of the supporting ships as Dongdiao class surveillance ship Tianquanxing (797) which is assigned to the PLAN South Sea Fleet, the naval component of the People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command. No further releases by the Philippines Navy on the Shandong CSG’s movements have been issued since.
On Thursday, the PLA Eastern Theater Command issued a release condemning a Wednesday Taiwan Strait transit by destroyer USS William P. Lawrence (DDG-110), with the command’s spokesperson, Snr. Col. Shi Yi said that the destroyer carried out the transit and “hyped it up publicly.”
The release added that the Eastern Theatre Command sent its Chinese navy and air force troops to track and monitor the transit action of the U.S. warship throughout the process and dealt with it in accordance with the law, “The U.S.’s relevant remarks distorted the fact, confused the public and misled the international perception. We urge the U.S. side to stop distorting and hyping up, and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability,” said Shi.
The release also included a ten-second video showing a shipboard PLAN sailor a ship observing a warship . The last reproted Taiwan Strait transit carried out was from Feb. 10 to 12 by destroyer USS Ralph Johnson (DDG-114) and survey ship USNS Bowditch (T-AGS-62), which sailed south through the Strait. The PLA release did not state the direction that William P. Lawrence sailed in and Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, which usually reports Taiwan Strait transits by other countries, made no mention of William P. Lawrence’s passage.
William P. Lawrence deployed on Nov. 18, 2024, from San Diego together with aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) cruiser USS Princeton (CG-59) and destroyer USS Sterett (DDG-104) as part of the Carl Vinson CSG, however it did not follow the CSG to the Middle East, Pentagon imagery releases on April 2 showed the destroyer as being docked in Yokosuka, Japan, two days before the Carl Vinson CSG began its transit of the Malacca Strait, towards its assignment to U.S. Central Command.
On Friday in the South China Sea, Littoral Combat Ship USS Omaha (LCS-12) and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) destroyer HMAS Sydney (DDG42) conducted a joint sail in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific, according to a Navy release, “This exercise with the Royal Australian Navy will enhance our capabilities as a combined force and further improve coordination across our navies,” said Vice Adm. Fred Kacher, commander, U.S. 7th Fleet, in the release, “Every day the U.S. 7th Fleet is increasing interoperability, information sharing and access with our partners across the theater in support of a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific.”.
The release stated that both ships conducted a coordinated maneuvering exercise, communications drills, and a variety of other combined operations while operating together, “Engagements such as this allow us to exercise the ship’s capability across a range of roles, ensuring we’re prepared to work together with allies and partners in future,” said Commander Ben Weller, commanding officer of Sydney, in the release, “It also highlights our contribution to the maintenance of a global rules-based order.”.
Sydney is on a three-month regional presence deployment to the Indo-Pacific, having left Australia on Apr. 3. It recently participated in the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) Bersama Shield exercise held around Malaysia and Singapore from Apr. 7 until Tuesday. The FPDA consisted of Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and the U.K. and Sydney was part of the naval task group for the exercise, joining the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) corvette RSS Vigilance (90), Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) offshore patrol vessel KD Terengganu (PV174) and multirole support ship KD Sri Indera Sakti (1503) and Royal Navy offshore patrol vessel HMS Spey (P234). The naval task group carried out air defense exercises, defending against simulated assaults by fast attack crafts, maritime traffic surveillance watchkeeping, boarding operations, anti-air and anti-surface targets gunnery shoots, according to a Royal Navy release.
