USS Washington to Japan?

The USS George Washington is due to leave its home port in the United States next Thursday, bound for Yokosuka, near Tokyo, where it will become the only US carrier on permanent forward deployment overseas. The vessel replaces the non-nuclear USS Kitty Hawk, which dates from the 1960s and is the oldest ship active in the US Navy (besides a wooden frigate in Boston harbour). The US Navy felt the replacement was necessary to cope with what it delicately calls the “unpredictable security environment in the western Pacific.”

The most ‘unpredictable’ threat in the region is North Korea, which has periodically shown a willingness to use naval force in the region and has strategic ambitions (if not yet capabilities). A carrier in the neighbourhood, rather than two weeks away in California, offers more effective deterrence against Pyongyang -- indeed, one of USS George Washington’s first deployments will be to a South Korean fleet review.

However, while it is less unpredictable, China is the larger concern. The United States’ latest maritime services strategy, released last October suggests that the Navy is the primary branch of the US military for deterring belligerent action by emerging so-called ‘blue water’ navies -– such as that under development by China. A carrier in the region is an implicit US guarantee to Taiwan of security, for instance -– during the country’s tense presidential elections the Kitty Hawk and George Washington’s sister ship the USS Nimitz were patrolling off its waters.

Regardless of the security rationale, the locals of Yokosuka are far from happy to see the new ship arrive. The George Washington is the first nuclear-powered surface warship permanently stationed in Japan, and represents a very visible focus for concerns about nuclear safety. These fears cannot have been assuaged by a fire on board the vessel earlier in the year, which delayed the deployment of the carrier by several months and led to the dismissal of its senior officer.  This followed news that the submarine USS Houston was leaking radioactive coolant water over a two-year period, during which it made several Japanese port calls.

The navy insists that in spite of such incidents, residents’ fears are based on misguided perceptions. In an effort to address these, it has commissioned what it hopes will be a culturally-sensitive way of communicating with local residents: a manga, or cartoon book, about the carrier -– named “CVN 73” after its hull number.

“While mixing in excitement and drama, the manga avoids flashpoint issues like the George Washington’s nuclear power plant” explains the official armed forces newspaper. With several protests against the deployment in the past fortnight, the comic will have its work cut out in changing minds.