Tokyo

The USS Decatur on Friday challenged China’s ‘excessive maritime claims’ near the Paracel Islands, part of a string of islets, reefs and shoals over which Beijing has territorial disputes with its neighbours. It was the first time such a freedom of navigation operation has been conducted without the Japan-based Seventh Fleet in command and was a test of changes aimed to allow the US Navy to conduct maritime operations on two fronts in Asia at the same time, two sources told Reuters. The sources spoke on condition they weren’t identified. 

Having the Third Fleet regularly command vessels in Asia, which it has not done since World War Two, means the US Navy can better conduct simultaneous operations such as on the Korean peninsula and in the Philippines, said one of the sources, who is familiar with the goals of the reorganization. “It is the first iteration of what will be a more regular operations tempo,” he said. The guided-missile destroyer Decatur is part of a three-ship Surface Action Group (SAG) that was deployed to South China Sea six months ago, said Commander Ryan Perry, a spokesman for the Third Fleet in San Diego, who confirmed the Third Fleet’s command role.

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