Saw this just today HERE, on Yahoo from AP
There is continuing talk in the US about forward deploying a second carrier to WESTPAC.
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.AP via yahoo News said: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
There is continuing talk in the US about forward deploying a second carrier to WESTPAC.
Last edited: