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U.S. Navy flagship carrier USS Ronald Reagan leaves its Japan home port after nearly 9 years

39 Comments
By EUGENE HOSHIKO and MARI YAMAGUCHI

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39 Comments
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“The USS Ronald Reagan and her crew have ensured that millions of people across the Indo-Pacific have been able to live their lives free of coercion, aggression and suppression,” Emanuel later told reporters.

Very commendable mission, thanks for your dedicated service.

Meanwhile, Xi (wannabe invader) welcoms Putin illegal invader, CCP stocking up gold like there's a war coming, likewise dumping US treasuries, creating ambiguous red lines all over the South China Sea (but should be renamed Shin Nippon Sea). US needs to bring on USS George Washington earlier than later.

17 ( +24 / -7 )

After being hosted by friendly nation that failed miserably for its security.

https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2024-05-10/drone-footage-ronald-reagan-yokosuka-13813098.html

-30 ( +5 / -35 )

Where's it headed?

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Named after a president who hated the working class almost as much as Trump.

-9 ( +16 / -25 )

Had watched a documentary about their aircraft carrier fleet. All state of the art and each better than the other. I think they have a fleet of about 10 or 11, and the next closest is China with 2. Impressive !!

13 ( +14 / -1 )

Where's it headed?

A final deployment in the Pacific then she will head to Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton WA for an overhaul.

20 ( +20 / -0 )

China protested the trip.

What's up with 'China' constantly whining, but then that's so typical of authoritarians and their regimes, bullying while at the same time trying to get their followers to think the authoritarians are being 'victimized', moaning 'it's unfair', and having their media parrot their long list of laments, and at the same time getting their supporters to believe any media outlet that doesn't fully support authoritarianism is wrong and biased. Straight out of the authoritarian's playbook, see Stalin, Hitler Mao, Putin etal

12 ( +18 / -6 )

Inada said experts should be able to land on Japan's territory for research, calling for a parliamentary debate.

There should be parliamentary debates on a good many things that involve the population like increasing wages for example before a debate is heard about one of Inada’s pet projects.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

I'm currently embarked aboard USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73).

We're on our way. See you soon, Nihon.

16 ( +18 / -2 )

Use it or lose it. The article brought up the Senkaku islands dispute. Instead of Japan looking for nuclear waste disposal sites on its main islands, it should partner up with the US, the European Union and other Allied countries looking for nuclear waste disposal sites and create a new multi nation disposal site in the Senkakus. Japan can also dispose of its stored water from the Fukushima nuclear plant in the same area of the islands. Why let a foreign power like China dictate how you use your own territory?

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Had watched a documentary about their aircraft carrier fleet. All state of the art and each better than the other. I think they have a fleet of about 10 or 11, and the next closest is China with 2. Impressive !!

We had over a hundred in WWII, but over half were smaller ones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_carrier_operations_during_World_War_II

5 ( +6 / -1 )

sakurasukiToday  07:24 am JST

After being hosted by friendly nation that failed miserably for its security.

https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2024-05-10/drone-footage-ronald-reagan-yokosuka-13813098.html

Hae you ever been to Yokosuka Fleet Command? Security is handled by the United States.

7 ( +10 / -3 )

NewgirlintownToday  07:58 am JST

Named after a president who hated the working class almost as much as Trump.

Maybe so. But he didn't instigate an insurrection. No comparison.

10 ( +14 / -4 )

that's so typical of authoritarians and their regimes, bullying while at the same time trying to get their followers to think the authoritarians are being 'victimized', moaning 'it's unfair', and having their media parrot their long list of laments, and at the same time getting their supporters to believe any media outlet that doesn't fully support authoritarianism is wrong and biased.

Sounds exactly like the democrat party.

-11 ( +3 / -14 )

Good riddance!

-22 ( +2 / -24 )

The USS Ronald Reagan and her crew have ensured that millions of people across the Indo-Pacific have been able to live their lives free of coercion, aggression and suppression,”

Sadly it has been unable to eliminate that coersion, aggression and suppresion in the Indo-Pacific being carried out daily by China, that effects millions more people. If only it could have. But one ship is only capable of doing do much. It cant do it all.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Named after a president who hated the working class almost as much as Trump.

Is it his humble origins in a small, midwestern American town with an alcoholic father that bothers you?

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Ronald Reagan did a tour of duty in Hollywood during WWII so compared to Trump, he was a real hero.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

sayonara and never come back.

Perhaps you would prefer the Chinese and Russians?

7 ( +8 / -1 )

It will be replaced later this year by USS George Washington

Didn't the Reagan replace the Washington in the first place? I guess she's been overhauled and sent back to see her days out in Japan - nothing new, I remember being shocked to find the vintage Midway still in active service in Yokosuka 30 odd years ago.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Perhaps you would prefer the Chinese and Russians?

Yes, this poster (UAfan, Eastman, Eastman) would prefer the Chinese and Russians unequivocally. And he would probably tell you the same.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Thankfully, people like UAfan don’t get to decide too much.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

cclzMay 17 01:21 pm JST

UAfanMay 17 01:41 pm JST

Disappointed that bully China doesn't have free rein?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Good grief. The nuclear-powered Ronald Reagan leaves Yokosuka, but another carrier, also nuclear-powered, the George Washington, will come soon there to replace it, thus making Yokosuka a permanent U.S. naval base in this Pacific region. Japan's three non-nuclear principles and, above all, its sovereignty, are virtually nonexistent.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Rham Emanuel, was there to make farewell handshakes with the crew members. A good job, Mr. Ambassador.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Is it his humble origins in a small, midwestern American town with an alcoholic father that bothers you?

No. It it is things such as what he did to the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Union that bother some of us.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Didn't the Reagan replace the Washington in the first place? I guess she's been overhauled and sent back to see her days out in Japan - nothing new, I remember being shocked to find the vintage Midway still in active service in Yokosuka 30 odd years ago.

When I was active duty in the 1980s we would say the Midway was Japan's first post war aircraft carrier so much of her maintenance was performed in Yokosuka. She hardly ever touched a shipyard in the US, and Japan paid for much of the cost of hosting her. There were also US Navy people there who had been stationed in Japan for 10-20 years and who had no desire to return to the US, even after retirement. Midway as seen as Japan's own in a way.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Good grief. The nuclear-powered Ronald Reagan leaves Yokosuka, but another carrier, also nuclear-powered, the George Washington, will come soon there to replace it, thus making Yokosuka a permanent U.S. naval base in this Pacific region. Japan's three non-nuclear principles and, above all, its sovereignty, are virtually nonexistent.

Good grief indeed Voicesinmyheadinokinawa, the ship is nuclear powered, not nuclear armed, but you have been told this many times before and it doesn't sink in. The only vessels in US Navy service with nuclear weapons are the Fleet Ballistic Missile Subs, and they don't make port calls in Japan. The US Navy stopped carrying nuclear weapons in the surface fleet way back in the 1990s. Those weapons are long gone from the inventory.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Desert Tortoise,

You seem to say that nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are not military arsenal, and so it is quite permissible for them to make Yokosuka their permanent home base? LOL.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

voiceofokinawa

Was I wrong to assume your fluency in Japanese? If you were, you'd know that the three principles specify that they apply to "nuclear weapons" and not any vessel powered by nuclear power, which Japan itself has had in the past.

Also, if you're a fan of Japan's three anti-nuclear (weapons) principles, I'd prepare yourself for a drastic change. I know you're incapable of comprehending why the government may feel this is necessary since you live in a fantasy world where Japan has no hostile or belligerent neighbors, particularly nuclear-armed ones, but as everything I'm seeing and hearing in my dealings indicate that the GOJ is seriously considering revising or abandoning them entirely and becoming a nuclear-armed nation in the relatively near future in order to achieve parity with said neighbors without relying entirely on the U.S.' nuclear deterrence.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Also, if you're a fan of Japan's three anti-nuclear (weapons) principles, I'd prepare yourself for a drastic change. I know you're incapable of comprehending why the government may feel this is necessary since you live in a fantasy world where Japan has no hostile or belligerent neighbors, particularly nuclear-armed ones, but as everything I'm seeing and hearing in my dealings indicate that the GOJ is seriously considering revising or abandoning them entirely and becoming a nuclear-armed nation in the relatively near future in order to achieve parity with said neighbors without relying entirely on the U.S.' nuclear deterrence.

Back when the US was dependable, this would have been ridiculous. But the election of Trump in the past, and the fact that they are still trying to re-elect him means that countries in the world have to make plans for a world where the US is either neutral, or potentially even an enemy of sorts.

It does scare me that Japan may abandon it's anti-nuclear principles, but I can also understand that they may be facing an existential threat.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

USNinJapan2,

According to Japan's three non-nuclear principles, Japan will not possess nuclear arsenal, manufacture them, nor let them in.

Do you insist to say that none of these principles applies to nuclear-powered warships like the USS Ronald Reagan, nor nuclear-powered submarines which often call at the White Beach Naval Base in Okinawa?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

voiceofokinawaToday 05:12 pm JST

Are you under the impression that nuclear powered ships are setting off nuclear bombs to propel themselves? It's controlled fission, which is the same as a nuclear power plant.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

voiceofokinawa

Repeat after me. The three principles prohibit nuclear W-E-A-P-O-N-S. Not nuclear-powered hairdryers, nuclear-powered vending machines, or nuclear-powered vessels. An aircraft carrier may be nuclear-POWERED but it is conventionally-armed and doesn't violate Japan's three anti-nuclear (weapons) principles according to Japanese government. The same applies to our submarines since only the conventionally-armed SSNs and not our nuclear-armed SSBNs make port calls in Japan at White Beach, Sasebo, and Yokosuka, although I would expect that to change once Japan revises it's three principals to embrace nuclear armament themselves. How is any of this so hard to comprehend for you?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

USNinJapan2,

A kitchen knife is a very useful tool for cooking. But it can be an awesome weapon if attached to the head of a spear. Are the kitchen knife and the spear all the same?

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

When the nuclear-powered USS George Washington replaced the conventional USS Nimitz at Yokosuka, wasn't there a similar controversy between Washington and Tokyo concerning if a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was a nuclear arsenal?

Tokyo seems to have succumbed to Washington, that insisted that a nuclear-powered warship was no different from a conventionally powered one, citing nuclear power plant. as an example.

That reminds me of the late former PM Yasuhiro Nakasone, who had visited Washington in 1983 and suddenly became a fervent promotor for nuclear energy after the return from his U.S. trip. Japan started building nuclear power plants one after another thereafter.

 Now, some poster here argues that nuclear fusion in the core of a nuclear power plant and nuclear warships are the same, whereby arguing against nuclear-powered warships making Yokosuka its permanent home base is nonsense.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Japan has about 33 nuclear reactors and 50 tons of plutonium.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

voiceofokinawaToday 12:39 pm JST

On the picture carried on the bottom:

Seems most of the low-ranking crew members of the nuclear-powered carrier are Mexican, Asian and Middle-Eastern, not Americans as we imagine them to be. They are fodders, all right.

It's said that serving the army is the shortest way to obtain a U.S. citizenship. This picture seems to confirm it.

Are you under the impression that we placed untrained people in positions on an aircraft carrier?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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