南海紧张 美国第三舰队或巡逻西太平洋

choi

BBC Chinese, Sept 27, 2015
www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2015/09/150927_us_china_sea_fleet

, which is based on the only English-language report so far:

Tim Kelly, US admiral Signals Wider Role for Powerful Third Fleet in Western Pacific. Reuters, Sept 27, 2015.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2 ... USKCN0RQ0SV20150927
("In an early sign of a shift in strategy, US naval officials said Third Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Nora Tyson rather than her Seventh Fleet counterpart would represent the U.S. Navy at the Japan Fleet Review on Oct. 18, a display of Japanese naval power held every three years")

My comment:
(a) This report is kind of confusing. It says, “US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Scott Swift * * * Third Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Nora Tyson * * * [Swift’s] visit to the Seventh Fleet headquarters in Yokosuka, Japan * * * Swift was away from his headquarters in Hawaii * * * [Swift was at] Third Fleet's headquarters in San Diego, California
(i) What I did not know, or forget, is The Third and Seventh Fleets are two legs of Pacific Fleet. Since when, this I can not find out in the Web; though I do manage to find out that both Third and Seventh Fleets were created on the same day: Mar 15, 1943.
(ii) United States Pacific Fleet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Pacific_Fleet
(headquarters is at Pearl Harbor Naval Station, Hawaii; was created in 1907 [by combining two squadrons];

Quote: “Until May 1940, the [Pacific] Fleet was stationed on the west coast of the United States (primarily at San Diego). During the summer of that year, as part of the US response to Japanese expansionism, it was instructed to take an ‘advanced’ position at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Long term basing at Pearl Harbor was so strongly opposed by the commander, Admiral James O Richardson, that he personally protested in Washington. Political considerations were thought sufficiently important that he was relieved by Admiral Husband E Kimmel, who was in command at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor.  The Pacific Fleet was formally recreated on Feb 1, 1941. On that day General Order 143 split the United States Fleet into separate Atlantic, Pacific, and Asiatic Fleets [the latter was to protect the Philippines, an American colony].

(b) “The Seventh Fleet has America's only forward deployed aircraft carrier strike group”
(i) "There are currently ten carrier strike groups [in US.] The Navy typically keeps at least one CSG in the US Fifth Fleet in Southwest Asia and one in the US Seventh Fleet in the Western Pacific at all times."  en.wikipedia.org
(ii) Carrier Strike Group Five
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrier_Strike_Group_Five
(headquarters Yokosuka 神奈川県 横須賀市; The Strike Group Flagship is the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76))

(c) “It [Third Fleet] was formed in 1943 under the command of Admiral William Halsey to fight the Japanese Imperial Navy in World War Two in Asia. Japanese officials officially surrendered aboard its then flagship, the USS Missouri, just over 70 years ago.”

Why didn’t Japan surrender to the Seventh Fleet?  Because during World War II, Seventh Fleet “served in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA).”  Wikipedia for “Seventh Fleet.”  See also South West Pacific Area (command)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_West_Pacific_Area_(command)
(1942-1945; was one of four major Allied commands in the Pacific War [view the map]; General Douglas MacArthur was appointed as the Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area, on its creation on Apr 18, 1942)