Another US navy vessel docks here

From the Manila Standard Today (Apr 3): Another US navy vessel docks here



An amphibious dock landing ship of the United States 7th Fleet has docked Tuesday in Manila, the US Embassy in Manila said.

An amphibious dock landing ship of the United States 7th Fleet has docked Tuesday in Manila, the US Embassy in Manila said.

The USS Tortuga is the latest and the eighth US Navy ship to either make a port call or join military exercise with the country’s naval forces since the start of the year.

The first US Navy ships to visit the country this year was the Los Angeles-class submarine USS Cheyenne and the Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship USS Guardian in January, followed by the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Stockdale in February.

In March, five US Navy ships made port calls in the country, namely the Submarine USS Ohio, the Destroyer USS Decatur, Submarine tender USS Frank Cable, the Sub Tender USS Emory S. Land and the US 7th Fleet Flagship USS Blue Ridge.

The USS Guardian minesweeper, however, crashed into the Tubbatahha Reef on Sulu Sea off Palawan on January 17.

The ship was extracted completely from the Unesco World Heritage Site area three months later, after salvage ships cut it down to pieces.

The US Embassy in Manila said the USS Tortuga would participate in this year’s Philippine-U.S. Balikatan exercises. It added that after the ship docks in Manila, it would make a brief stop in Subic.
The Balikatan is slated on April 5-17 and the concentration of the military exercises would be in Luzon in the province of Zambales.

“The Tortuga will support Philippine and U.S. troops’ joint training for humanitarian assistance and disaster response scenarios. The Tortuga is part of the Bonhomme Richard Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and is currently on deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility. The Bonhomme Richard ARG reports to the commander, Amphibious Force 7th Fleet, Rear Adm. Jeffrey A. Harley, headquartered in White Beach, Okinawa, Japan,” the Embassy said.

The unusual large number of port call of US Navy ships and joint military exercises came at a time when the Philippines and China are embroiled in a bitter territorial dispute over the islands and waters in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea), particularly in the Spratlys Islands, parts of which clearly belonged to the country by virtue of its 200-mile exclusive economic zone.

At least seven islets and two reefs in the Spratlys were located within Philippine territory called the Kalayaan Island Group.

Aside from the Philippines and China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia are claiming parts of the Spratly Island.

The Chinese are also claiming ownership of the Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal which is located off Masinloc, Zambales, the site of the naval drills that would be conducted under the Balikatan exercises.

http://manilastandardtoday.com/2013/04/03/another-us-navy-vessel-docks-here/