Posted on 10/27/2005 8:02:21 PM PDT by 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.
I stand corrected I looked up the Big E and she is a nuke...
The Enterprise is only a few months older than the Kitty Hawk itself. She is scheduled for retirement in 2013, when the first CVN-21 comes on board. At that point, she will have served faithfully for...52 years!
much to my shame I noticed that when I went to the web page for her...
I seem to have this loyalty to the Nimitz for some reason.. :)
She was the first nuke carrier and has eight reactors.
I caught that immediately and I was reading this in the Virginian-Pilot, a Navy town (Norfolk) newspaper. Idiots.
This is big news. My wife is from Sasebo and remembers the riots there when Enterprise pulled in in the late '60s.
For those speculating which carrier it will be, my guess it will be the most recently refueled one at the time of transfer, in order to maximize the time it will be available until next overhaul.
I think that would be the Vinson. I can't find a current chart, but I don't think the Roosevelt will be finished by then.
Or, as is the case now, the oldest, most expendible unit, since it will be most likely taken out in a Chinese first strike. That would be the Enterprise, although I think it just finished up a RCOH.
A nice addition to your carrier pages would be a chart showing the RCOH schedule. I used to refer to the one on the FAS pages, but it has gotten badly out of date. I can extrapolate, but with the Kennedy COH cancelled, I really can't be sure what the new schedule is, and I don't know where to find one easily.
They adapted a batch of submarine reactors for the job. A lot cheaper and more reliable than building from scratch.
I'll put my money on the Reagan. Ronnie is very well thought of here in Japan -- well as much as any American President is.
Also, by putting one of the newest and best carriers here in Japan it will send a strong message to both Japan and China on how seriously the U.S. takes the relationship.
Well, the boilers of the Kitty Hawk are fired by DFM (diesel fuel marine) so I guess that in a way you can say that the ship is diesel-powered.
Granted, no sailor or engineer of any sort would think so, but civvie editors are as dumb as rocks.
I can still remember that weird island structure she came out with. Grand old lady indeed.
I would have missed that question on the final. I did a quick check, and the boilers were converted in the 1970s.
http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee86/desertdog7788/
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