Saw this just today HERE, on Yahoo from AP
WASHINGTON – United States and Japanese officials have agreed to allow the Navy to station a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Japan for the first time, the Navy announced Thursday.
Though American troops have been based in Japan since the end of World War II, the Japanese public has long been wary of a U.S. nuclear presence because of concerns about possible radiation leaks. The decision comes 60 years after the United States brought the war to an end by dropping atomic bombs on a pair of Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“The security environment in the Western Pacific region increasingly requires that the U.S. Navy station the most capable ships forward,” the Navy said in a statement. The deployment of the carrier, the Navy said, will “fulfill the U.S. government’s commitment to the defense of Japan, and the maintenance of international peace and security in the Far East.”
Nuclear-powered warships have visited Japanese ports more than 1,200 times since 1964. The Navy said the United States has provided firm commitments to the government of Japan regarding the safe use of Japanese ports by the nuclear powered warships, and it pledged to observe strictly all safety precautions and procedures.
This is the second deal to come to light this week between the two governments, in advance of high-level meetings Friday and Saturday at the Pentagon between U.S. Defense and State Department officials and Japanese military and foreign ministers. On Wednesday, U.S. officials struck a deal with Japan to build a heliport at an American base in Okinawa
This is pretty big news. The USS Kitty Hawk followed the USS Independence in being forward deployed to Japan in 1998, which itself had replaced the USS Midway there in 1991. Now a nuclear carrier will apparently follow: No mention as to which CVN at this point. Here’s a couple of pics of the Kitty Hawk.
There is continuing talk in the US about forward deploying a second carrier to WESTPAC.
By: Arabella-Cox - 31st October 2005 at 01:05
Exactly. Removing a carrier, besides the more important security issues, also means moving its associated battle group vessels too. A definite econoimic impact.
Yes, a very big impact on Economics and Security! If, the Japanese Public can live with a American Nuclear Aircraft Carrier. Based in there own Ports. Are Japanese Aircraft Carriers far behind??? :rolleyes:
By: Jeff Head - 30th October 2005 at 23:47
I think its surely in Japan interest to have a American Carrier based in Japan. Also, if Japan had said no. I wonder if the USN would have pulled most of its Naval Forces out too? Remember all the escorts in a Carrier Battle Group…..(i.e. Submarines, Destroyers, Cruisers, AOR’s, etc.) :rolleyes:
Exactly. Removing a carrier, besides the more important security issues, also means moving its associated battle group vessels too. A definite econoimic impact.
By: Arabella-Cox - 30th October 2005 at 15:52
I think its surely in Japan interest to have a American Carrier based in Japan. Also, if Japan had said no. I wonder if the USN would have pulled most of its Naval Forces out too? Remember all the escorts in a Carrier Battle Group…..(i.e. Submarines, Destroyers, Cruisers, AOR’s, etc.) :rolleyes:
By: Jeff Head - 28th October 2005 at 22:03
The Kitty Hawk is due to be phsed out when the final Nimitz class carrier comes on line.
You are right. The last Nimitz is CVN-77, the George HW Bush, slated to be active in 2008.
I heard they just started cutting steel for CVN-78.
They did. First steel was cut in August of this year. CVN-78 will be the first CVN-21 class…due out in 2013.
By: Jeff Head - 28th October 2005 at 22:01
Well, one problem less for the US.
Until now they always had the problem that they needed/whanted to have a carrier forward deployed in Japan, but that it couldn’t be nuclear at the same time.Problem becouse the Kitty Hawk is coming into its years already & it would have been very unpropable that the US would have developed a Convetnional carrier just to forward deploy it.
With that gone, the Kittty Hawk might even get replaced by the George Bush
I believe the plan all along had been to replace the KH with the GHWB in 2008. The KW was next up on the block…but it looks like now that the JFK will go first. CVN-78 was slated to replace the Enterprise…but maybe the big “E” will get another four or five years until CVN-79 comes along, which is when the JFK was supposed to be decomm’d.
By: suflanker45 - 28th October 2005 at 21:16
The Kitty Hawk is due to be phsed out when the final Nimitz class carrier comes on line. I heard they just started cutting steel for CVN-78.
By: Forestin - 28th October 2005 at 21:03
Well, one problem less for the US.
Until now they always had the problem that they needed/whanted to have a carrier forward deployed in Japan, but that it couldn’t be nuclear at the same time.
Problem becouse the Kitty Hawk is coming into its years already & it would have been very unpropable that the US would have developed a Convetnional carrier just to forward deploy it.
With that gone, the Kittty Hawk might even get replaced by the George Bush
Sign In
October 28, 2005 at 4:55 pm