The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group concluded drills in the Philippine Sea with a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer on Apr. 28, according to a JMSDF release.
Comprising of aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and destroyers USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG-54), USS Gridley (DDG-101) and USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG-123), along with fleet oiler USNS John Lewis (T-AO-205) carried out tactical exercises from the South of Nansei Islands to the Western Pacific from Apr. 23 to April 28 with destroyer JS Ariake (DD-109), according to a JMSDF release on Wednesday.
Since departing San Diego on Mar. 26, the Nimitz CSG has been operating in the Pacific Ocean and South China Sea, with the exception of destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG-108), which deployed as part of the CSG but detached during transit to join the Carl Vinson CSG in the Central Command area of operations as one of its escorts.
Meanwhile, a Wednesday U.S. Navy release stated that expeditionary mobile base USS Miguel Keith (ESB-5) completed a five-month regular overhaul (ROH) availability at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Yokohama, Japan on Apr. 15. This marks the first time a Japanese shipyard has bid on and won an ROH contract of this scale for a U.S. Navy ship. While 10 U.S.C. § 863 prohibits overhauling, repairing or maintaining U.S. naval vessels in foreign-owned and operated shipyards outside the United States, except for voyage repairs, Miguel Keith’s availability was under six months and the ship was not due to return to the U.S. within 15 months, thus the statute did not apply.
Miguel Keith’s ROH is part of efforts by the U.S. to allow repairs and overhauls of its overseas deployed ships to be carried out in foreign shipyards rather than returning to the United States and facing a backlog at U.S. naval shipyards. Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan, during his trip to Japan on Apr. 28 and South Korea on Apr. 30 toured major shipyards in both countries.
“Working with leading shipyards like Hanwha Ocean Shipbuilding and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is essential to ensuring deployed U.S. ships and systems remain fully operational in the Indo-Pacific,” said Phelan in a release. Fleet oiler USNS Yukon (T-AO-202) is currently undergoing maintenance at Hanwha Ocean Shipyard.
In other developments, on Wednesday morning and afternoon, a Chinese Y-9 electronic intelligence aircraft flew in from the East China Sea, passed between Miyako Island and Okinawa to enter the Philippine Sea, where it carried out a patrol circuit before returning back the same way to the East China Sea, according to a JSO release on that day. Fighter aircraft of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) Southwestern Air Defence Command were scrambled in response.
On Thursday, the JSO issued a release stating that at 9 a.m. that day, PLAN destroyer CNS Hangzhou (136) and frigate CNS Xuzhou (530) were sighted sailing south in an area 50 miles south of Kume Island and subsequently sailed south in the waters between Okinawa and Miyako Island to enter the Philippine Sea. A JMSDF P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft from Fleet Air Wing 5 based at Naha Air Base, Okinawa, shadowed the PLAN ships, according to the release.
