On September 28, 2022 local time, in Yokosuka City, Japan, U.S. Vice President Harris met with members of the U.S. Navy at Yokosuka Naval Base. Photo/IC photo
On September 26, the USS Zumwalt, the newest U.S. guided-missile destroyer, arrived at Yokosuka Naval Harbor in Japan to begin its first deployment outside the U.S. mainland. On the same day, U.S. Vice President Harry Ris also flew to Japan to attend the burial of former Japanese Prime Minister Shin Abe. This is certainly no coincidence.
The destroyer Zumwalt was called a "battleship of the future" by the US media because of its sci-fi appearance. Although the ship has a displacement of up to 15,000 tons, it has a strong stealth ability, and all its protruding parts are invisible, and even the barrel of the main gun can be stored in the turret to ensure its stealth performance.
For the overseas deployment of Zumwalt, US media reports said that it is aimed at creating conditions for the United States to eventually deploy hypersonic missiles in the western Pacific region. The ship has been assigned to the 15th Destroyer Squadron of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, and its station at Yokosuka Military Port in Japan is the largest overseas base of the U.S. Navy in the world and the home port of the USS Reagan.
To this end, Japanese media reported that Yokosuka has become the most important base for the US military in the world. On September 28, Harris arrived at Yokosuka Military Port, boarded the destroyer Howard, next to the Moored Zumwalt, and delivered a speech to encourage the morale of the U.S. military "forward deployment" and reiterate expectations for the U.S.-Japan-South Korea military alliance. This also seems to confirm the Japanese media advocacy that "Yokosuka has become the world's most important base for the US military."
Yokosuka pushes "Air-to-ground submarine"
Located at the entrance to Tokyo Bay, Japan, Yokosuka was one of Japan's most important military ports during World War II, and was taken over by the U.S. military after World War II, becoming the seat of the U.S. Seventh Fleet Command and the main home port of the fleet. It is also home to the largest military port of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the headquarters of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the core of Japan's military activities.
In October 2016, Zumwalt entered service and in April 2019 was assigned to the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet. As a member of Task Force 71, he set off from San Diego Military Port on the west coast of the U.S. mainland to the Far East, arrived in Guam on September 6, and arrived at Yokosuka Port in Japan on September 26 for a "routine stop."
U.S. Vice President Harris, who attended the funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shin Abe, also flew to Yokota Air Base not far from Yokosuka Military Port on September 26. On September 28, Harris visited Yokosuka Military Port to deliver a speech advocating so-called "freedom of navigation operations", saying that "the U.S. military is undoubtedly the most powerful and best combat force in the world" and hyping up the U.S. military's "forward deployment" intentions.
It is worth mentioning that Zumwalt and Harris are not the only recent visits to Yokosuka by U.S. dignitaries: Rear Admiral Jabron, commander of the submarine force of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, also arrived here to meet with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force and the top echelons of the U.S. Submarine Force in Japan.
It can be said that the intensive "air-ground submarine" promotion of the Yokosuka military port in a short period of time by the United States has highlighted the importance of the port on the global and especially in the Far East and the so-called "Indo-Pacific" strategic chessboard.
Navigation data map of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
The "battleship of the future" faces an embarrassing reality
For the U.S. military, the original role of the Yokosuka military port was to deter and monitor the defeated Japan. However, with the outbreak of the Cold War, it became the hub for the United States to build a US-Japan military alliance, and use this as the core to build its hegemony in the Far East and encircle the "imaginary enemy".
Although the United States put forward the military strategy of "forward deployment" early on, and tried to improve the speed of forward military response and increase its efficiency in maintaining military hegemony overseas, due to the increased awareness of sovereignty of various countries after World War II and the high cost of overseas operations, the "frontier existence" has encountered many obstacles.
Taking the aircraft carrier task force, which is known as the "most powerful tool in peacetime" of US military strategy, as an example, the "forward deployment" is carried out in normal years, that is, only one is actually deployed "in the front" at overseas bases. The only "forward-deployed" aircraft carrier task force is deployed at Yokosuka Naval Port.
Since 1973, five aircraft carriers, Midway, Independence, Kitty Hawk, Washington and Reagan, have used Yokosuka Military Port as their home port, and Yokosuka has become the only permanent aircraft carrier port of the United States overseas, and the Seventh Fleet Command and other U.S. naval command agencies are also permanently located here.
Coupled with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, which is jokingly called the "Seventh Fleet's full-time minesweeper and anti-submarine brigade", Yokosuka's position as the core and hub of the US Far East military layout is clear at a glance.
As for the "future warship" Zumwalt, it is an intriguing existence.
This large, avant-garde and expensive surface ship is the "future surface capital ship" carefully conceived by the United States under the premise of winning the Cold War and believing that it is "invincible at sea".
Based on the assumption that there is no opponent at sea, the battleships of the class focus on stealth, multi-purpose and "from the sea" performance, that is, not to pursue naval combat performance, but to strike and deter low-defense targets along the land coast from the sea.
However, the US military subsequently found that not only was the assumption that "there is no opponent at sea" out of place, but many of the equipment of this class of warships was also substandard; under the threat of high intensity in modern naval warfare, it had become a "white elephant" with high prices, unstable performance, and unguaranteed naval and naval and air combat performance.
Because of this, the United States had to restart the upgrade of the old first-class Burke-class destroyers, and Harris's "show" in Yokosuka, and the boarding of the old ship Howard on the Sherzumwalt, is also a reflection of this embarrassing reality.
The fact that the United States belatedly sent this cutting-edge battleship to the Far East to "walk the catwalk" after nearly 6 years of service is of course intended to highlight its determination to "exist at the forefront" and to encourage the belief that its officers and men stationed abroad and regional allies such as Japan and South Korea "stand by the United States" -- the last stop of Harris's Asian trip is South Korea, and there are rumors that the Zum Walter may also visit South Korea, which will highlight the nature of the "gunboat diplomacy" mission.
However, what kind of "curative effect" will be if the "white elephant" is sacrificed, it is really a big doubt.
Information map of the US USS Washington nuclear-powered aircraft carrier leaving Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
The U.S. military's hesitant "forward presence"
Although the Japanese hawks are inexplicably excited about the "face" that US military and political leaders have given Yokosuka such a "face," many US military experts have doubts about whether Yokosuka is suitable to be the "front" of US military strategy in the Far East.
Yokosuka is adjacent to the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area of Japan, and the surrounding residents and social organizations are complaining about the "US military disturbing the people", and the US military is also worried about the "inconvenience of training" and "difficulty in keeping secret" here.
Not only that, for the western Pacific, it is too "forward", if the opponent increases its maritime strength, and even has the ability to preemptively attack, not only the expensive equipment deployed by the United States in Yokosuka is in danger of being "one pot end", but also the bustling Tokyo Bay metropolitan area in Japan will also be affected by pond fish.
Although Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party has repeatedly tried to rearmament and amend its pacifist constitution, Japan is after all a "foreign country" for the U.S. military garrison, and there are many obstacles to military deployment.
For example, under Japanese law, Yokosuka Military Port had previously banned the stationing of U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carriers for a long time, and only after all conventional U.S. aircraft carriers were decommissioned did they have to be adapted. In addition, the visit of US warships carrying nuclear weapons to Japan will always cause fierce controversy, not to mention the normalization of deployment.
Because of this, the hesitant U.S. military has been trying in recent years to strengthen the weight of Guam and Australia's Darwin Military Port on its Far East military chessboard: Guam is U.S. territory with minimal constraints in all aspects; Darwin was far from the Far East frontier, where it was not easy to be "put in the old nest".
But in any case, whether it is to demonstrate the military hegemony of the United States in the Far East or to support the costly "freedom of navigation operation", the "forward presence" of Yokosuka is an indispensable strategic point for the US military at present. This is also the mystery of the rush from Harris to the Zumwalt.
Written by / Tao Shorthouse (Columnist)
Editor / Rui He
Proofreading / Zhao Lin