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WASHINGTON – Before then-President Donald Trump visited a US Navy base in Japan in 2019, his team asked officials to keep a ship named for one of Trump’s Republican rivals – the late Sen. John McCain – out of sight, newly released Navy emails confirm. When reports of the White House request initially surfaced, Navy officials told reporters a painting tarp that obscured the ship’s name from view in the days before Trump’s visit was placed there for maintenance reasons – but the documents released Wednesday confirm that was untrue. “The name of USS John S. McCain was not obscured...

Donald Trump has confirmed that a warship named after his Republican nemesis, the late Arizona senator John McCain, was intentionally hidden from his view during his visit to a naval base in Japan this week. The president confirmed that the ship had been intentionally hidden, saying someone had taken measures “because they thought I didn’t like [McCain]”. The Wall Street Journal cited an email dated 15 May from an official at the US Indo-Pacific Command to US navy and air force officials which said the USS John McCain “needs to be out of sight” during Trump’s Memorial Day visit to...

The following is the U.S. 7th Fleet command investigation into the January grounding of USS Antietam (CG-54)

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS George Washington say the gentle rocking that signaled the beginning of the earthquake felt so familiar, they barely took note. As it intensified over the next few minutes, they knew something extraordinary was happening. “It actually felt like we were under way and answering bells,” said Chief Petty Officer Bill Mason, of Damascus, Pa. Mason checked the water line in the harbor shortly after the major quake — the water had dropped 6 feet, he said. The George Washington is 1,092 feet long and includes 60,000 tons of structural...

South Korea and the United States have decided not to hold a joint naval drill, which was expected to take place in the Yellow Sea late this month, in consideration of geopolitical conditions ahead of an upcoming Seoul G-20 economic summit, defense sources said Sunday. "For the time being, there will be no joint aircraft carrier strike group exercise that South Korea and the U.S. considered holding late this month," a high-level government source said, requesting anonymity. "A training involving a U.S. aircraft carrier will not be held within this year." The allies initially planned to hold the exercise joined...

USS George Washington, the U.S. Navy's only permanently, forward-deployed aircraft carrier will visit the Korean port of Busan July 21-25, 2010, officials at U.S. Forces Korea announced today. In addition to USS George Washington, three destroyers from its strike group will also visit Korean ports. USS McCampbell and USS John S. McCain will visit Busan, and USS Lassen will visit Chinhae. "The U.S. Navy maintains a robust forward presence in the Asia-Pacific region and the people of the Republic of Korea are our good friends and allies," said George Washington commanding officer Capt. David Lausman. "Our presence here is a...

The United States may dispatch its high-tech F-22 Raptor stealth fighter to the Korean Peninsula for the upcoming joint military exercises with South Korea aimed at sending a warning message to North Korea for its continued provocative acts, a government source said Sunday. "Chances are high that the F-22 fighter jet will take part in the South Korea-U.S. joint drills to be held in the East Sea within July, in which a U.S. aircraft carrier will also participate," the source said on the condition of anonymity. "The U.S. is considering the F-22's participation in the training."In response to the March...

South Korea and the United States have agreed to stage joint naval exercises later this month in the West Sea, an official at the Ministry of National Defense said Friday. “We’ve decided to stage joint naval drills in the final week of this month,” the official said. “U.S. warships belonging to the U.S. 7th Fleet, including an aircraft carrier, will join the drills as planned before.” The two governments were originally scheduled to hold naval exercises, including a joint anti-submarine drill, in early June in a show of force against possible North Korean provocation in waters near the sea border....

US aircraft carrier will join a major anti-submarine naval exercise with South Korea next week in a show of strength to North Korea after the sinking of a warship, reports said Wednesday. South Korea, which accuses the North of torpedoing its ship Cheonan in March with the loss of 46 lives, is also mounting a diplomatic drive at the United Nations but indicated it would not seek new sanctions. The USS George Washington will leave its base in the Japanese port of Yokosuka around Saturday and arrive in the Yellow Sea early next week, Yonhap news agency quoted a military...

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A piece of a Navy jet fell off in midflight Thursday afternoon, breaking a window at a residential home but causing no injuries. The F/A-18E Super Hornet from Strike Fighter Squadron 27 lost a pump service handle at 2:15 p.m. while flying just northwest of Naval Air Facility Atsugi in Ayase City, base spokesman Tim McGough said Friday. The handle was about 22 inches long and an inch in diameter, McGough said. The Japanese government’s South Kanto Defense Bureau and base officials assessed the damage last night but hadn’t yet released any monetary damage figures...

Video footage (clip) of SM-3-armed Japanese AEGIS destroyers putting to sea, heading out for possible confrontation with North Korean ICBM missile in the next few days.Go here, hit arrow on the orange box, just below the aerial photo of the crafts leaving port here in Japan.

YOKOSUKA, Japan (NNS) -- Two USS George Washington (GW) (CVN 73) Sailors are being hailed as heroes after their quick thinking helped save the life of a Japanese citizen. Aviation Electronics Technician 1st Class Henry Caballero and Aviation Electrician's Mate 1st Class James Brice were returning to Yokosuka Dec. 19 after having dinner at a restaurant in Harajuku. While changing trains at Shinagawa Station at they noticed a man lose his balance and fall off the platform onto the track below. "The man was dressed in white, and I guess I saw it out of the corner of my eye....

TOKYO (Reuters) - No injuries had been reported after two explosions were heard late on Friday near a U.S. naval base where a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier will soon dock south of Tokyo, Japanese police said on Saturday. Police said investigations were underway and that rocket fragments had been found near the controversial naval base at Yokosuka, but few other details were available. Residents had reported that the roof of one nearby home had been damaged by the blasts, police said. The blasts occurred about two weeks before the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington is scheduled to arrive at the...

NORFOLK When the George Washington ties up in Yokosuka, Japan, in August, it will become the first nuclear-powered carrier based in the only nation ever to be attacked by nuclear weapons. While its departure Monday from the East Coast brings both a sentimental and financial loss, its relocation to the Far East means the ship’s crew must bring along as much diplomacy as weaponry. “What people don’t understand they sometimes fear,” said Rear Adm. Philip Cullom, commander of the George Washington Strike Group. “Sometimes it’s a matter of articulating the story so that people understand it.” The carrier’s arrival in...

US military finds sailor in slain taxi driver's case: report Weekend March 22, 2008 The US military Saturday took into custody a deserter in Japan wanted for questioning over the killing of a taxi driver, a report said.The US military, which has been looking for the sailor since early this month, informed Japan early Saturday that he was found in the military hub of Yokosuka near Tokyo, Kyodo News said, quoting police sources. The report said the sailor's credit card was found Wednesday in a parked taxi in which the 61-year-old driver was stabbed to death with a kitchen...

Not to "step on anybody's rice bowl" here, but does anyone besides me find this a bit IRONIC??Here we have a case where we are told by The Pentagon back in the States that military funerals, involving a time-honored tradition of flag-folding, must be "religiously cleansed", and other references for example to Jesus Christ kept out of Chaplains' public comments.All the while, here in Japan, just one week ago (as in previous years), the US Navy's Commander of Fleet Activities Yokosuka (CFAY) and MWR Office officially sanctioned, paid for, or otherwise arranged American sailors to parade through the streets in...

Thursday, January 5, 2006 at 15:12 EST YOKOHAMA — A U.S. serviceman from the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk has admitted killing a 56-year-old Japanese woman in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, informed sources said Thursday, citing investigations by the U.S. forces in Japan. More than one U.S. serviceman were taken in custody, including the one who admitted killing the woman, the sources said. The victim, Yoshie Sato, was found bleeding from her face and head near a building in Yokosuka at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday. The U.S. forces started investigating the case following inquiries from the local police, who found footage on...

Rear Adm. James Kelly assumed command of the U.S. Naval Forces in Japan today, replacing Rear Adm. Frederic Ruehe. The change of command ceremony was held aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier at the Japanese port of Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo, where the U.S. 7th Fleet is based. Kelly becomes the second-most senior officer for the U.S. Navy in Japan following the 7th Fleet commander, Vice Adm. Jonathan Greenert. The 7th Fleet is the largest in the Navy, and is the only fleet that has its home port outside of the United States.

Sunday May 1, 5:39 PM Draft U.S. paper allows commanders to seek preemptive nuke strikes (Kyodo) _ The U.S. military plans to allow regional combatant commanders to request the president for approval to carry out preemptive nuclear strikes against possible attacks on the United States or its allies with weapons of mass destruction, according to a draft new nuclear operations paper. The paper, drafted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces, also revealed that submarines which make port calls in Yokosuka, Sasebo and Okinawa in Japan are prepared for reloading nuclear warheads if necessary to deal...

Hello, everybody. Typhoon 22 swept through Japan last night and wrecked the Yokosuka Navy base. I happened to have duty last night (onboard the USS Vandegrift) and was connected to the rest of the harbor through the Bridge-to-Bridge circuits, so here's what happened. We didn't see much of the typhoon until 4 PM, but when it hit, it hit hard. The USS Vincennes was the first to part mooring lines and experience an unexpected underway period. According to the bridge-to-bridge, they shortly thereafter drifted over and hit the USS Coronado. The USS Chancellorsville and two of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense...