Posted on 05/18/2013 12:54:06 PM PDT by JerseyanExile
Japan Maritime Self Defense Force warships JS Atago, foreground, and JS Shimokita, at Pearl Harbor naval base, Hawaii. The superstructure of a third Japanese warship, the helicopter carrier JS Hyuga, can be seen at right. On the deck of Shimokita are ground vehicles and helicopters – shrink-wrapped to protect against salt air -- that will take part in major amphibious warfare training in southern California.
Warships from Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force have making stops at the American naval base at Pearl Harbor for more than two decades. But it’s going to seem strange, indeed, when Japanese ground troops clamor aboard this weekend.
Three of the newest and largest ships in the JMSDF arrived at Pearl Harbor on Thursday. Several-hundred ground troops from Japan’s Western Army Infantry Regiment will link up with the ships after flying in from bases in Kyushu. The flotilla will continue on to southern California, where the troops will take part in several weeks of amphibious warfare training with U.S. Marines.
Altogether, it represents one of the most ambitious military exercises of Japan’s post-war era.
Japanese troops have trained with Marines for several years, but have never operated from their own warships. The JMSDF, though highly capable, does not have any ships specifically designed to carry ground forces or to launch or support troops ashore.
Years of debate over whether to develop amphibious warfare capability ended in 2010 when China began to aggressively press ownership claims on Japan’s remote Senkaku Islands, which China calls Diaoyu. Japan has several thousand small and potentially vulnerable islands and rocky outcroppings that stretch some 700 miles southwest from Japan’s home islands.
(Excerpt) Read more at nation.time.com ...
They should spend more money on their defense. However, both Germany and Japan need to feel the leather from an American shoe on their necks from time to time. Just to keep their ambitions in check.
Didn’t the British Army burn Washington?
I must admit I had to look that one up.
It’s “clamber” aboard, not clamor.
From my search results, this “journalist” ain’t alone...
Would a B29 be allowed on display in that “peace” square in Hiroshima?
The Japanese need our help—My bet they will be fighting a naval war with China in the future. The Chinese want to crush Japan at sea and Take Okinawa Island. They are going to need some bigger ships!
Sorta. Sea Shepard/Watson is a scripted entity. Look up some of the Seal Clubbing fantasies he/GreenPeace committed to film. Pure scripted ‘reality’. With stuffed seals.
Pro Wrasslin at least requires talented acrobat/gymnasts and that can’t easily be faked.
Oh I’d bet many have. They just don’t talk about it. Dave Foreman of Earth First is another trainwreck eco crusader that needs to see the inside of Florence.
Last I heard Sierra is still trying to live down their association to his rasicalism. Not that there is a difference behind the scenes. They funded him for decades.
He had a thing for pushing his cultists to put very deadly traps in the desert to kill and maim off-roaders too.
He was/is a very ‘domestic’ terrorist.
Seems like we should blow ‘em out of the water and tell them ‘Now we’re even’...So let’s get on with the training...
I agree. I don’t have any problem with the Japanese ships visiting Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese Fleet is in Hawaii to capture the Head of the Dept of Health, the local IRS Commissioner in Honolulu and to secure the Honolulu Golf Course.
The Japanese have been our friends and allies for much longer than they were our enemies, so I don't see the controversy here. Of course, I'd also crank the USS Missouri's main guns over in the direction of their ships' berths - just as a reminder that they should be respectful while visiting.
Get the Japanese to also secure the Vital Records office and I’ll help roll out the red carpet for them.
Dace sank the cruiser Maya, while Darter put two torpedoes into the cruiser Takao and four into the Atago, causing her to capsize and sink in less than thirty minutes. Admiral Kurita survived the sinking of his flagship, but the event left him badly shaken, and his performance off Samar Island two days later was far below his normal combat prowess.
The next day, Dace and Darter were tracking the crippled Takao, hoping to finish her off, when Darter grounded on an uncharted coral reef. Despite all efforts to remove the stranded sub, her crew was eventually forced to abandon ship.
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