Military bases are the basis for the army to carry out combat and training tasks. As the most powerful country in the world today, the United States has set up a large number of military bases not only in the United States, but also in the overseas territories of the United States and the territories of other countries.
According to the "2018 Fiscal Year U.S. Military Base Structure Report" released by the U.S. Department of Defense, the total number of U.S. military bases is 4775, of which 514 are overseas military bases (other data show that the figure is even larger), and 111 are military bases in the U.S. Overseas Territories.
These military bases are not only located in the U.S. native states, but also in the throat of international shipping lanes, sensitive areas of international disputes, and key areas of resource competition. Such a huge network of military bases provides important support for the United States to invest military power in the world, plunder the resources of other countries, interfere in regional affairs, and even subvert the regimes of other countries.
According to foreign media sources quoted by the reference news network, on August 28, the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Carl Vinson once again docked at the Yokosuka base after 18 years, and the most advanced F-35C stealth fighter and CMV-22 "Osprey" transport aircraft were the first time to come to Japan.
The U.S. Navy says this is in support of maritime policing missions on a global scale. About 4,800 officers and men on board will not leave the base while they are at Yokosuka Base.
At this time, the US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier "Reagan", with yokosuka base as its home port, was on a mission in the North Arabian Sea to support the withdrawal of US troops stationed in Afghanistan. Therefore, the outside world speculates that this move is intended to fill the vacuum and contain China.
Why Yokosuka?
Transfiguration: Past and present lives
The Yokosuka base in our eyes is the official full name of the US military as "United States Fleet Activities Yokosuka", and the Japanese call it the "Yokosuka Naval Facility".
Location of yokosuka base (Image source: Google Maps)
It is located in Yokosuka City, at the entrance of Tokyo Bay in south-central Honshu, Japan, and coordinates: 35° 17′ north latitude, 139° 40' east longitude, which is very important geographically.
As one of the few natural harbors in Japan, its waters in the port are open, with a waterline area of more than 30 square kilometers; the water depth is slow, the water depth is 7 to 30 meters, the current flow direction is basically north-west and south-east, the speed is about 1 knot, and there is no need for dredging.
Area around the Yokosuka Naval Facility (Source: Japanese Ministry of Defense website)
When it comes to yokosuka and the United States, the earliest can be traced back to the "Black Ship Incident" (known in Japan as the "Black Ship"). In 1853, U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry led a fleet into the sea of Uraga, Edo Bay (now Uraga, Yokosuka, Tokyo Bay) to demand the opening of Japan, and under the pressure of the United States, the two sides signed the Treaty of Kanagawa in 1854, which was forced to open the country.
At that time, Yokosuka was just a pristine fishing village.
In 1865, the Edo shogunate established the Yokosuka Iron Works;
In 1871, on this basis, the Yokosuka Shipyard was established;
In 1884, the "Tokai Town Shofu" was moved from Yokohama to Yokosuka and renamed "Yokosuka Town Shogunate", and the former Yokosuka Shipyard was also under its jurisdiction.
Since then, Yokosuka has become one of the main military ports of the Japanese Navy.
With the rise of Japanese naval power at the end of the 19th century, by the Russo-Japanese War and World War I from 1904 to 1905, Yokosuka's shipbuilding capabilities had been greatly improved, and it had the ability to build cruisers, battleships and other capital ships of the time. Until the Second World War, not only did the ship repair ability reach the first-class level at that time, but also became the base camp of the Japanese naval strength, known as the "First Military Port of the Toyo".
After Japan's surrender in 1945, the United States landed in Yokosuka on August 26 and took over the base on the site of the former Japanese Navy Yard in Yokosuka. In 1947, the U.S. military successively established a ship repair department, a supply depot and a port department. Formed a de facto U.S. naval base.
After the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan officially provided Yokosuka Base to the U.S. military in 1952 in accordance with the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.
After the United States took over, in the 1950s and 1960s, large-scale modernization and expansion projects were carried out at the Yokosuka base. By October 1973, the base was designated as the home port for the U.S. Navy's Seventh Fleet aircraft carriers.
In 1984, U.S. nuclear-powered attack submarines berthed into the harbor from the beginning. Later, due to the opposition of the Japanese side, there are no permanent nuclear submarines at present. From the 1980s to the 1990s, the United States expanded and renovated some large warship docks and shore facilities.
In 2007, in order to provide berths for the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George Washington, the United States spent a lot of money to dig deep harbor channels, dredged some of the berths, and extended the length of individual docks. As a result, the Yokosuka base was roughly what it is now.
Satellite view of the Yokosuka Naval Facility (Image: Google Maps)
Chen Bing: Military deployment
As the headquarters of the U.S. Navy in Japan and the headquarters of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, Yokosuka Base is regularly deployed here. At present, the main surface ships with Yokosuka Base as their home port mainly include: 1 Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, 1 Blue Ridge-class amphibious command ship, 3 Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers, and 8 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers.
Nimitz-class aircraft carrier (1: USS Ronald Reagan, CVN-76)
USS Ronald Reagan (Image source: U.S. Navy website)
The USS Ronald Reagan changed its home port to Yokosuka in October 2015, replacing the previous AIRS Washington. Launched in March 2001 and commissioned in July 2003, using the USS Reagan is the ninth of 10 Nimitz-class nuclear-powered carriers in the United States. It is 332.85 meters long, the flight deck is 76.8 meters wide, the maximum draft is 11.3 meters, the full load displacement is more than 100,000 tons, and the maximum speed is more than 30 knots. As the core of the fifth aircraft carrier strike group, according to the needs of different missions, the Reagan aircraft carrier can carry about 90 fixed-wing and propeller carrier-based aircraft of various types.
Blue Ridge class amphibious command ship (1: Blue Ridge, LCC-19)
USS Blue Ridge amphibious command ship (Image source: U.S. Navy official website)
Blue Ridge was forward-deployed to Yokosuka in 1979 and became the flagship of the Seventh Fleet. Blue Ridge is currently the first of only two Blue Ridge class amphibious command ships in the United States (the second ship, Whitney Hill, is deployed in Gaeta, Italy). It is 193.2 meters long, 32.9 meters wide, has a draft of 8.8 meters, a displacement of 19,000 tons, and a speed of 23 knots.
Its primary responsibility is to provide command, control, communications, computer, and intelligence (C4I) support to the commanders and staff officers of the U.S. Seventh Fleet. Launched in January 1969 and commissioned in November 1970, the Blue Ridge has been in service for more than 50 years, making it the longest active ship in service in the U.S. Navy. Still, the "oldest" using the Blue Ridge amphibious command ship was extended to 2039 by the Chief of Naval Operations in 2011.
Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers (3 ships: USS Antittan, CG-54; USS Cheslauville, CG-62; USS Charlotte, CG-67)
The Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser is the only cruiser in active service in the U.S. Navy and the world's first large warship equipped with the Aegis integrated surface warfare system.
USS Antittan missile cruiser (Image: U.S. Naval Association website)
This type of cruiser is equipped with two sets of command and control systems with the same function, one set is used by the captain for the operational command of the ship, and the other is entrusted to the fleet commander for the combat command of the whole fleet.
USS Cheslauer guided-missile cruiser (Image: U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet Command official website)
The missile cruiser is 172.8 meters long, 16.8 meters wide, has a draft of 9.7 meters, a displacement of 10,000 tons, and a speed of more than 30 knots. Antitine, Cheslauer and Charlotte served in June 1987, November 1989 and July 1992 respectively, and have been in service for about 30 years.
USS Charlotte guided-missile cruiser (Image: U.S. Navy official website)
In December 2020, the U.S. Navy noted in its Annual Long-Term Plan to Congress on the Construction of Naval Ships that Antitan and Charlotte are scheduled to be decommissioned in 2024 and that USS Cheslauer is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2026 and is in reserve.
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers (8: Barry, DDG-52; Curtis Wilbur, DDG-54; John S. McCain, DDG-56; Benford, DDG-65; Millius, DDG-69; Higgins, DDG-76; Howard, DDG-83; Rafael Peralta, DDG-115)
USS Barry guided-missile destroyer (Image source: U.S. Navy official website)
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer is the U.S. Navy's largest active type of destroyer, a multi-mission surface combat ship capable of air defense, anti-submarine warfare, and anti-surface warfare, operating independently, or as part of an aircraft carrier strike group, surface action group, and expeditionary strike group.
USS Curtis Wilbur (Credit: U.S. Navy website)
At present, the eight destroyers with Yokosuka as their home port, except for the Rafael Peralta, which is relatively new and entered service in 2017, the other seven destroyers have been in service from 1992 to 2003, and have been in service for 20 to 30 years. The Burke-class destroyers were continuously improved during their service, forming multiple batches.
The armament and basic parameters of different batches of ships are also slightly different. Overall, the Burke-class destroyers are 153.9 to 155.3 meters long, 18 meters wide, 9.3 meters in draft, 8230 to 9700 tons in displacement, and more than 30 knots in speed.
USS Raphael Peralta guided-missile destroyer (Image: U.S. Navy official website)
What I must point out here is that although Yokosuka Base is not the home port of the U.S. Navy's nuclear submarines and the air station for carrier-based aircraft, the Fifth Carrier Air Wing deployed at Atsugi Naval Air Station and Iwagoku Marine Corps Air Station will be assigned to the Fifth Aircraft Carrier Strike Group with the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan as the core, and the attack nuclear submarines with Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, as their home port, will also go to Yokosuka under the orders of the Pacific Fleet to cooperate with the relevant ship operations.
USS Howard guided-missile destroyer (Image source: U.S. Navy official website)
System: Strategic base
In the U.S. military base system, yokosuka base is very important.
It is the only overseas aircraft carrier home port and the main strategic gathering and departure point in the Far East, and it is also the largest comprehensive naval base and the largest ship maintenance base of the U.S. Navy in the Western Pacific, so it is considered one of the most strategic bases of the U.S. military.
If you only look at the facilities of the base itself, a naval base can play a role beyond berthing, supply, maintenance, and so on. However, if we look at the target audiences, we can more fully understand the important role played by Yokosuka Base in the US military's combat system.
First, ships deployed at Yokosuka Base as their home port.
The ships described above, with Yokosuka Base as their home port, were the main warships of the Seventh Fleet in wartime for sea supremacy. In the U.S. military system, this part of the ship is the main force used to protect sea lanes in East Asia and even the Indo-Pacific region, to intimidate other countries in the region, to assist in the defense of the territory of U.S. allies, and to use force when necessary. Depending on the type of mission, these ships will perform tasks individually or in formation.
In recent years, most of the tasks of continuously dispatching warships to cross the Taiwan Strait and trespass into China's territorial waters have been carried out by the Yokosuka base.
Second, other combat units under the jurisdiction of the Seventh Fleet.
In addition to the ships of the Yokosuka Base, the Seventh Fleet also deployed amphibious assault ships, dock landing ships, minesweepers, and nuclear submarines at bases such as Sasebo and Guam. Although the home port of these ships is not at the Yokosuka base, they will also sail into the Yokosuka base for supplies or repairs when the mission requires.
Third, the temporary deployment of combat forces in the Western Pacific.
In addition to the need for Support at Yokosuka Base for ships of the Seventh Fleet, which are routinely deployed in the Western Pacific, in some specific cases, Yokosuka Base is also required to support ships belonging to other U.S. military theaters. There are two main scenarios.
First, when the United States believes that the security situation in East Asia is tense, or when the United States tries to intervene in East Asian affairs by means of the threat of force, the US military will mobilize two, three or even more aircraft carrier strike groups from other regions to the western Pacific.
For example, when the Korean Peninsula issue is tense, when the United States tries to suppress China on the South China Sea issue, it will send aircraft carrier strike groups or some ships deployed in other theaters to the western Pacific to achieve the purpose of military pressure on North Korea or China.
Second, when some ships deployed in other U.S. theaters return to the U.S. mainland, they may use Yokosuka Base as a transit point.
Although this situation itself is not very aggressive, it will often be combined with the previous situation by the US military, so that the ships that were originally only returning to port "incidentally" bring certain pressure to other countries.
Finally, the Sea of Japan is a maritime power of its U.S. allies.
Yokosuka not only has a base for the U.S. military, but also the headquarters of the Japanese Self-Defense Fleet, the Frigate Fleet, the Diving Fleet, the Yokosuka Local Forces, and other units, and about 40% of the ships of the Maritime Self-Defense Force are also stationed here, which facilitates the joint operation of the U.S.-Japan Maritime Armed Forces.
In addition, according to the provisions of the relevant act of the 1999 "Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation", the US military can also use bases and merchant ship terminals in the harbor in time of war. Therefore, in the event of an armed conflict, yokosuka bases will include both the U.S. Navy and the Sea of Japan in the scope of support when needed.
Judging from the recent movements of the British "Queen Elizabeth" aircraft carrier strike group and the statements of the British and Japanese defense departments on "permanently deploying 2 British warships in Japan", the Yokosuka base will also support British ships in the future.
Threat: Breach of security
As the world's number one military power, the United States deployed heavy troops at the Yokosuka base, and the threat to our country is obvious. Coupled with the shift in the US national security strategy in recent years, President Biden believes that "China is the most serious competitor of the United States" and we cannot turn a blind eye to the threat posed by the Yokosuka base to our country.
First, the destruction of the regional security situation.
As an extraterritorial country, the United States relies on the forward deployment of U.S. troops in Japan and the ROK represented by the Yokosuka Base in East Asia, and its existence itself is a threat and destruction to regional security and even world peace.
The United States' attempt to use the "Five Eyes Alliance" and other means to pull together small groups on the basis of its allies, to do its utmost to suppress countries outside its small groups, and to threaten them with force at the slightest disagreement is one of the important reasons for endangering peace and stability in the East Asian region.
In recent years, the US military has also stolen military intelligence from China and other East Asian countries by sending military planes and warships to reconnoiter with high frequency, causing a great threat to the national security of the countries concerned. Whether it is a direct military threat to China or a military threat provoked by the United States to other countries in East Asia by relying on the Yokosuka base, it will cause tension in The security situation around China, which will undoubtedly have an impact on China's peace, stability and development.
Second, intervention in the issue of China's reunification.
Ever since the Seventh Fleet sent warships into the Taiwan Strait when the Korean War broke out in 1950, the United States has not given up on preventing China's reunification. During the Taiwan Strait crisis in 1996, the United States sent aircraft carriers and other warships from yokosuka base to intervene in an all-round way. It can be said that China has not yet realized the complete reunification of the motherland and is inextricably linked to the Yokosuka base.
In recent years, the DPP authorities on the island have attempted to "rely on foreigners to respect themselves" and "resist reunification by force" in order to support their illusion of obsession, that is, to pin their hopes on the Seventh Fleet and other military forces represented by the Yokosuka Base deployed by the United States in East Asia.
The United States is inconsistent in its words and deeds, on the one hand, it has expressed its adherence to the "one-China" principle, and on the other hand, it has increased various forms of Taiwan-US military interaction. In the final analysis, it is not willing to see and sit idly by while China is reunified.
Therefore, whether it is now or in all possible actions in the future, the US East Asian garrison represented by the Yokosuka base will create trouble for China to achieve reunification.
Thirdly, the challenge to the international maritime order.
The United States is the only country among the five permanent members of the UN Security Council that has not acceded to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, but the United States has forcibly demanded that other countries comply with the fragments of the content of the Convention that it understands out of context. A typical example of this operation is the dispatch of warships from bases such as Yokosuka to carry out so-called "freedom of navigation operations" in the South China Sea and other waters.
China has always respected and safeguarded the freedom of navigation and overflight enjoyed by all countries in the South China Sea in accordance with international law, but resolutely opposes any country's use of freedom of navigation and overflight to undermine China's sovereignty and security.
The essence of the so-called "freedom of navigation operation" carried out by the United States warships is to deliberately distort the provisions of the international law of the sea on freedom of navigation, thereby disrupting the international maritime order and realizing its ambition to maintain global maritime hegemony.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Gu Wanquan Text Editor: Dong Siyun Title Image Source: Xinhua News Agency Photo Editor: Xu Jiamin
Source: Author: Lookout Think Tank