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USS McCampbell (DDG 85) departs U.S. Fleet Activities (FLEACT) Yokosuka and transits into Tokyo Bay, May 14, 2018. Navy photo.
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS McCampbell (DDG-85) steamed past the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on Monday in a freedom of navigation operation that drew the ire of Chinese government officials.
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) as the ship transits the Strait of Gibraltar on Dec. 4, 2018. US Navy Photo
USNI News polled its writers, naval analysts and service members on what they consider the most important military and maritime stories in 2018. This story is part of a series; please also see U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Marine Corps Operations.
If 2018 made anything clear, it’s that the U.S. Navy noticed the increased Russian submarine activity in the Atlantic and won’t let it go unaddressed.
Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson visits Indonesia to meet with Indonesia navy leadership and to reaffirm the U.S. Navy’s commitment to strengthen the strategic partnership between the U.S. and Indonesia on Oct. 20, 2018. US Navy Photo
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson lays out aggressive acquisition goals and overhauls in how the Navy develops new technologies and implements operating concepts in a sweeping 2.0 revision of his Design for Maintaining Maritime Superiority. The push to field new kit and concepts is his effort to ready the Navy for not only high-end warfare but also gray-zone conflict and other challenges related to Russian and Chinese aggression that the service and joint force will have to confront, according to a copy of the document reviewed by USNI News on Monday. Read More
Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping before the beginning of the BRICS Leaders’ meeting in 2017. Kremlin Photo
Nations stretching from India into Southeast Asia see China’s investments and loan practices as a direct threat to their sovereignty as much as Beijing’s military, the editor of a new work on Indo-Pacific security balance said last week. Read More
The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) leads a formation of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 5 ships as U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress aircraft and U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets pass overhead for a photo exercise during Valiant Shield 2018 on Sept. 17. US Navy photo.
This post has been updated to correct the hull number of the former USS St. Louis. It’s LKA-116, not LKA-117.
The high-end biennial Valiant Shield exercise kicked off in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands on Sunday, with some of the Navy’s and Marine Corps’ most advanced platforms participating in the weeklong event. Read More
The Kongo-class guided-missile destroyer JS Kirishima (DDG-174), right, sails alongside the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) during photo exercise. Ronald Reagan is forward-deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. US Navy Photo
USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), the only forward-based U.S. aircraft carrier, departed port Tuesday to participate in a bilateral training event in the Philippine Sea.
The following is the complete May 17, 2018 U.S. Pacific Fleet change of command ceremony. Read More
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Stethem (DDG 63) and USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54) undergo routine maintenance at Fleet Activities (FLEACT) Yokosuka on June 16, 2017. Stethem is forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, in support of security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region. US Navy photo.
The House Armed Services Committee debated how to balance ensuring that all forces throughout the Navy are equally ready for battle when they deploy versus ensuring the U.S. Pacific Fleet is nimble enough to respond to whatever military crisis or natural disaster may arise – with the majority of lawmakers ultimately deciding they wanted the Navy to enforce a single standard of readiness. Read More
Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin speaks to members of the press about the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) which was involved in a collision with a merchant vessel on June 18, 2017.
This post was updated to correct circumstances of a Jan. 31, 2017 incident involving the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG-54). The ship suffered a grounding, not a collision.
U.S. warships in the Western Pacific were overtasked and starved for manpower ahead of two fatal collisions that killed 17 sailors, the former commander of Japan-based U.S. 7th Fleet wrote in his first public comments since being removed from his position last year. Read More
Sailors aboard Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins (DDG-76) arrive in Hawaii. US Navy Photo
The House Armed Services Committee is looking to change the command and control system that governs naval forces in the Pacific, based on recommendations made in the aftermath of last year’s fatal collisions, but concerns from some lawmakers are already surfacing. Read More
