Nikkei Asia has found out that the U.S. Navy intends to replace the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) with USS George Washington (CVN-73) as the forward-deployed carrier in Japan.
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U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Chris Cavagnaro, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In 2015, the USS Ronald Reagan was sent to Yokosuka naval base in Japan to replace the USS George Washington. Currently, the latter is undergoing refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) maintenance at Newport News Shipyard in Virginia, during which it will be modified to operate the Boeing MQ-25A Stingray, the US Navy’s first carrier-borne aerial refueling drone.
The USS George Washington was previously deployed in Japan for seven years before being returned to the United States. Prior to that, the USS Midway, USS Independence, and USS Kitty Hawk were the forward-deployed aircraft carriers home ported in Japan.
Due to two deadly incidents involving Yokosuka-based destroyers in 2017 (USS John S. McCain and the USS Fitzgerald colliding with civilian ships while at sea, resulting in the deaths of 17 Navy sailors), the US Navy is required by law to rotate the USS Ronald Reagan within 10 years. In 2018, Congress directed that all overseas forward-deployed warships would be restricted to 10 years for each deployment in the fiscal 2019 defense budget. The clause was intended to ensure that the US Navy would rotate its forward-deployed warships more frequently, reducing the risks associated with prolonged deployments and potentially improving the readiness and effectiveness of the fleet. The National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2019 was signed into law by President Trump in August 2018.
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