Surface Forces

Japan-based Destroyer CO Removed from Command

USS Howard (DDG-83) transits the Philippine Sea during Pacific Vanguard 23, July 4, 2023. US Navy Photo

The commander of Japan-based guided-missile destroyer USS Howard (DDG-83) was removed from command Saturday, Navy officials told USNI News.

U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Karl Thomas removed Cmdr. Kenji Igawa from command, “due to loss of confidence in his ability to command,” according to a service statement provided to USNI News.

Cmdr. Kenji Igawa on Dec. 1, 2022. US Navy Photo

“Capt....

https://news.usni.org/2023/08/21/japan-based-destroyer-co-removed-from-command

DoD Officials Refute Claims Iranian Military Forced Marine, Navy Helicopters to Divert Course

USS Bataan (LHD-5) transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Aug. 17, 2023. Fars News Image

THE PENTAGON – U.S. officials pushed back against claims that the Iranian military forced a Navy and Marine helicopter to make an emergency landing during a recent transit of the Strait of Hormuz last week.

Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Monday she had not seen footage of Iranian assets allegedly forcing the helicopter to land, but she said all reports of a U.S. asset being...

https://news.usni.org/2023/08/21/dod-officials-refute-claims-iranian-military-forced-marine-navy-helicopters-to-divert-course

USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker: Aug. 21, 2023

USNI News Graphic

These are the approximate positions of the U.S. Navy’s deployed carrier strike groups and amphibious ready groups throughout the world as of Aug. 21, 2023, based on Navy and public data. In cases where a CSG or ARG is conducting disaggregated operations, the chart reflects the location of the capital ship.

Ships Underway

Total Battle Force DeployedUnderway
297
(USS 238, USNS 59)		100
(USS 67, USNS 33)		77
(48 Deployed, 29 Local)

Ships Deployed by Fleet

2nd Fleet3rd Fleet

New Leaders Take Command of I MEF, Naval Surface Forces

U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Bradford Gering, the incoming commanding general for I Marine Expeditionary Force, gives his remarks during the I Marine Expeditionary Force succession of command ceremony on Camp Pendleton, California, Aug. 18, 2023. US Marine Corps Photo

Two major three-star commands changed leaders in separate southern California ceremonies on Friday.

At Camp Pendleton, Calif., Lt. Gen. George Smith relinquished his command of I Marine Expeditionary Force to Maj. Gen. Bradford...

https://news.usni.org/2023/08/20/new-leaders-take-command-of-i-mef-naval-surface-forces

USS Bataan, USS Carter Hall and 26th MEU Now in the Persian Gulf

Two U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft operate alongside amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5) and guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) in the Gulf of Oman, Aug. 17, 2023. US Navy Photo

Amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5) and landing dock ship USS Carter Hall (LSD-50), sailing on orders to the Persian Gulf region, crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, USNI has learned.

Both ships, part of the three-ship, 4,000-member Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, left...

https://news.usni.org/2023/08/18/uss-bataan-uss-carter-hall-and-26th-meu-now-in-the-persian-gulf

VCNO Franchetti Issues First Guidance to Fleet as Acting CNO

Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti delivers remarks during a relinquishment of office ceremony at the United States Naval Academy, Aug. 14, 2023. US Navy Photo

The Navy will continue uninterrupted despite the lack of a confirmed chief of naval operations, Adm. Lisa Franchetti said in her first message to the fleet since taking over the duties of CNO.

“The work of our Navy continues undisrupted and unabated. We continue to operate our ships, submarines, and aircraft at the point...

https://news.usni.org/2023/08/17/vcno-franchetti-issues-first-guidance-to-fleet-as-acting-cno

Russian, Chinese Warships in East China Sea After Sailing Near Alaska

JMSDF Image

The joint Russian Navy – People’s Liberation Navy (PLAN) flotilla that sailed near Alaska and the Aleutian Islands in early August is now operating in the East China Sea, according to a Thursday Japan Ministry of Defense release.

The flotilla has been sailing together since July 27, when it departed from Vladivostok, Russia. At that time it consisted of 10 ships: Russian Navy destroyers RFS Admiral Panteleyev (548) and RFS Admiral Tributs (564); corvettes RFS Gremyashchiy (337) and...

https://news.usni.org/2023/08/17/russian-chinese-warships-in-east-china-sea-after-sailing-near-alaska

Large Scale Exercise 2023 Was Custom Built to Push Fleet to the Limit, Say Planners

Airman Steven Wilcoxson, from Visalia, California, pulls a refueling hose aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) in the Atlantic Ocean on June 23, 2023. U.S. Navy Photo

ABOARD AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER – Fresh from a training exercise off the coast of Virginia, the Navy’s second oldest carrier is getting minor repairs while moored at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. But just below the flight deck of USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), the staff of...

https://news.usni.org/2023/08/16/large-scale-exercise-2023-was-custom-built-to-push-fleet-to-the-limit-say-planners

USNI NEWS Video: USS Constitution is Getting a Mast Makeover

USS Constitution moored in Boston on Aug. 7, 2023. USNI News Photo

ABOARD FRIGATE USS CONSTITUTION – The oldest warship afloat looked skeletal moored in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston with no sails.
A ship without sails is common for the modern Navy, but for USS Constitution, the sheets of advanced polyester designed to look like flax cloth are a crucial part of the 226-year-old frigate’s structure.

The reason for the bare look is Old Ironsides is going through a major repair, Constitution...

https://news.usni.org/2023/08/16/usni-news-video-uss-constitution-is-getting-a-mast-makeover

Beijing Investing in Network of Global Chinese Naval Bases, Researchers Find

Chinese sailors at the People’s Liberation Army Navy base in Djibouti in 2019. Xinhua Photo

A team of researchers have identified likely locations of future Chinese naval bases not only in the Indo-Pacific but as far away as the Atlantic coast of Africa.

China invested in a “whole swath of ports” through its decade-old Belt and Road Initiative, but it is not clear which one will be used for a future naval base, said Alexander Wooley, one of the study’s authors and director of partnerships and...

https://news.usni.org/2023/08/16/beijing-investing-in-network-of-global-chinese-naval-bases-researchers-find

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