Tag: U.S. Navy

The USS Carl Vinson arrives at a key naval base in the southeastern city of Busan on March 2, 2025. (Yonhap)

It looks like this is the response to North Korea’s ICBM launch, holding a trilateral missile defense exercise:

South Korea, the United States and Japan held a joint naval drill, the South Korean Navy said Sunday, in a show of strengthened trilateral military cooperation against North Korea’s escalating nuclear threats.

The three allies staged a missile defense exercise in international waters between South Korea and Japan, Sunday, mobilizing three Aegis-equipped destroyers ― ROKS Yulgok Yi I, USS John Finn and JS Maya ― to enhance readiness against North Korea’s missile provocations.

The previous joint drill was held on April 17 and the latest one was the fourth combined exercise to take place during the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is a good idea, but I do not see this getting through Congress for approval when they will be looking to protect jobs in their district related to ship building:

But experts who spoke to CNN before the summit say a potential solution to one of them – the Chinese fleet’s numerical advantage – is within reach, if the US is prepared to think outside the box.

Washington, they say, has something Beijing doesn’t: Allies in South Korea and Japan who are building some of the highest spec – and affordable – naval hardware on the oceans. 

Buying ships from these countries, or even building US-designed vessels in their shipyards, could be a cost-effective way of closing the gap with China, they say. 

Their warships are “certainly a match for their (Chinese) counterparts,” says Blake Herzinger, a research fellow at the United States Studies Center in Australia, while Japan’s warship designers “are among the world’s best,” says Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center in Hawaii.

Both countries have mutual defense treaties with the US, so why doesn’t the US team up with them to outbuild China?

The problem is, US law currently prevents its Navy from buying foreign-built ships – even from allies – or from building its own ships in foreign countries due to both security concerns and a desire to protect America’s shipbuilding industry.

CNN

You can read more at the link.

Just another example of the growing trilateral cooperation between the ROK, Japan, and the U.S.:

The U.S. military has revealed South Korean, U.S. and Japanese submarine commanders jointly boarded an American nuclear ballistic missile submarine for the first time last month, in a sign of bolstering trilateral cooperation against North Korean threats.

On the Pentagon’s Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, it posted a series of photos showing the three officials aboard the USS Maine, an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, in the vicinity of Guam on April 18.

The three were Rear Adm. Lee Su-youl, the commander of the South Korean Navy’s Submarine Force; Rear Adm. Rick Seif, the commander of the U.S.’ Submarine Group 7; and Vice Adm. Tateki Tawara, the commander of Japan’s Fleet Submarine Force.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is great to see the growing trilateral cooperation between the ROK, U.S., and Japan:

South Korea, the United States and Japan kicked off a trilateral naval exercise, involving an American aircraft carrier, in waters south of the Korean Peninsula on Monday, Seoul’s defense ministry said, amid joint efforts to reinforce deterrence against growing North Korean threats.

The two-day anti-submarine and search-and-rescue exercise, featuring the USS Nimitz carrier, got under way in the international waters south of the southern island of Jeju.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is widely expected that the North Korea is going to do a provocation of some kind on April 15th the birthday of the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung. It appears the U.S. military is sending a message beforehand in regards to any provocation:

The U.S. military on Wednesday revealed this week’s exercise with Japan in the East Sea involving a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, F-35C stealth jets and other key assets in a show of force amid concerns about possible North Korean provocations. 

In a Facebook post, the U.S. 7th Fleet showed photos depicting the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier, F-35Cs, an F/A-18E Super Hornet and E-2D Hawk Eye early warning aircraft engaging in the drills with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force on Tuesday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The Japan based sailor that killed two people after falling asleep at the wheel has received a three year sentence:

A U.S. naval officer charged in a car crash that killed two pedestrians broke down in tears as a Japanese judge found him guilty of negligent driving on Monday. 

Lt. Ridge Hanneman Alkonis, 33, was sentenced to three years in Japanese prison during a hearing at Shizuoka District Court in Numazu, a punishment just short of the 4½-year-sentence requested by prosecutors. Alkonis’ defense attorneys, on the other hand, had asked for a suspended sentence, effectively a term of probation. 

Alkonis was charged with negligent driving causing death and injury after his car crashed into pedestrians and parked vehicles at a soba restaurant parking lot in Fujinomiya on May 29. The city is in Shizuoka prefecture, about two hours from Yokosuka Naval Base, where he’s stationed as a weapons officer aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but ROK Heads may remember that Lt. Alkonis tried to claim that high-altitude mountain sickness from his visit to Mt. Fuji is what caused him to fall asleep. The judge did not buy that argument and I agree with him. It is probably more likely that Alkonis fell asleep because he was exhausted after getting up very early to hike up and down Mt. Fuji.

Regardless it is a tragic accident that should remind everyone that if you are drowsy you should not drive.