Japan to Harbor Nuclear-Powered Carrier

AP ^ | Oct. 27, 2005 | LOLITA C. BALDOR

[Righty_McRight]

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.

The nuclear-powered carrier would replace the USS Kitty Hawk, a diesel-powered carrier based in Yokosuka, Japan.

A Japanese Embassy official did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Kitty Hawk, commissioned in 1961, is the oldest ship in full active service in the Navy and the only American aircraft carrier permanently deployed abroad. The new carrier would arrive in Japan in 2008, when the Kitty Hawk is scheduled to return to the United States and be decommissioned.

The Navy, in its statement, said the ship rotation is part of a long-range plan to replace older ships, while considering the "unpredictable security environment" in the Western Pacific.

It was not clear which nuclear-powered carrier would replace the Kitty Hawk. The Navy has nine active nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Another, named after former President George H.W. Bush, is being built.

Japan's prime minister was expected to discuss the deployment of a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Japan when he meets President Bush next month.

The Marine base agreement, which would close the Marine Corps Air Station, Futenma, and build a heliport at another base on the island, Camp Schwab, ran into opposition from the island's residents Thursday. Japan's defense chief predicted Tokyo would struggle to get their approval for the plan.

Critics of the U.S. bases support closing Futenma but oppose any new military construction. The agreement opens the way for high-level talks on Saturday in Washington on the broader realignment of the 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan, part of the American effort to streamline its military overseas and create a leaner, more flexible fighting force.

[SoCalPol]

Nimitz is based here in San Diego along with the Ronald Reagan
It won't be either of these ships.

[quietolong]

USS William Jefferson Clinton CVS1
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1510710/posts

[The Shrew]

Looks like info we were discussing the other day.

Regards,

TS

[PAR35]

the USS Kitty Hawk, a diesel-powered carrier

Well, no, it isn't. Wonder how much else the reporter got wrong and the idiot editor didn't catch.

[Tangerine Time Machine]

Looks like the Japanese will take a carrier for our Marines on Okinawa.

Some of our Marines will never leave Okinawa.

[RedQuill]

I thought the Enterprise was stationed in Japan back in the 70's. Yes?

[snowsislander]

More like a slap in the face to the Japaneese. I'm not sure thats wise if we want to keep a base there.

I don't think that a carrier named "Nimitz" would be perceived as some sort of insult.

General McArthur was revered in Japan; the Japanese granted a medal to General LeMay back in the 1960s; and from looking around the web, there are notes that Admiral Nimitz was active in rebuilding post-war relations with Japan. From the Wikipedia: After the war, he worked to restore good will with Japan -- the nation he did so much to defeat in the War -- by helping raise funds for the restoration of the battleship Mikasa, Admiral Heihachiro Togo's flagship at the Battle of Tsushima in 1905. From the Nimitz Museum: He also worked to restore goodwill with Japan by raising funds for the restoration of the Japanese memorial ship MIKASA and urging return of ancestral samurai swords.

I am pleased to hear that we have worked out placing a nuclear-powered carrier with the Koizumi government. (For what it is worth, Prime Minister Koizumi is from Yokosuka.)

[Al Gator]

Now this is really BIG news.

[Al Gator]

You don't understand Japanese mentality very well.

They are not muslims that get insulted over everything.

They do in fact sometimes honor their opponent, as long as he is/was worthy of their respect. Even if defeated by that opponent. One of the reasons they chose to hurry up and surrender to the US was that they saw us as an honorable opponent. They were terrified of the Russians, who they saw in a different light altogether.

The Japanese are peculiar and you may find that what We think might be an insult, they may just shrug and be glad that they have a nuke ship at their disposal.

[Al Gator]

No, it was the Midway.

[Al Gator]

And on that note, the battle of Midway was recognized by the Japanese as one of their worst defeats.

No need to worry about the name of the boat insulting them, they are a bigger than all that.

They know that that boat stationed there is a security bonanza that their economy just loves. Name it anything, just make sure its in Yokosuka.

[csvset]

I'll still put my money on the Nimitz

That's what I thought too. USS Nimitz, V-2 Div. '81-'85.

[Jeff Head]

It was not clear which nuclear-powered carrier would replace the Kitty Hawk. The Navy has nine active nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Another, named after former President George H.W. Bush, is being built.

Actually, we have nine Nimitz carriers and a tenth being built. But we also have the Enterprise, which is nuclear powered, meaning we have ten nuclear powered carriers.

As to those being built, we actually have two more being built. The George HW Bush, which is the last Nimitz class, and the the, as yet unnamed, CVN-78, which will be the first CVN-21 class carrier. First steel cuting for her was in August of this year.

I keep hearing talk about a second carrier being forward deployed to the area. Perhaps only as far as Hawaii, but also perhaps in the WESTPAC.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We fought for it and won it. It should be ours.

[RedQuill]

That's right! Thanks, g.

[Clemenza]

Oh No, there goes Tokyo...

[Jeff Head]

Now this is really BIG news.

Yes it is.

I thought the part in the article about, ""The security environment in the Western Pacific region increasingly requires that the U.S. Navy station the most capable ships forward," was very telling and directed.

I am sure the growing and modernizing PLAN probably gets the message.

[tanknetter]

good point.... but I'll still put my money on the Nimitz... :)

My money would be on Vinson. In 2008 she'll be fresh out of RCOH with brand-new reactor cores and an ability to stay there for a longer term than any other carrier (note that the Japanese want any reactor work to be done back in the US).

From the looks of it, the Japanese have also won concessions on restricting reactor operations while in harbor, so her RCOH would be a good time to install additional diesel generators and the like.

[A.A. Cunningham]

The Enterprise is older than the Nimitz.

[Americanwolf]

I don't believe the Big E is a Nuke though.