By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Fidel Hart, USS Blue Ridge Public Affairs
YOKOSUKA, Japan – Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus thanked more than a thousand 7th Fleet Sailors and Marines in Yokosuka Apr. 20 who participated in disaster relief operations off the coast of Japan., saying that their efforts had made the alliance stronger.
Crewmembers from the 7th Fleet ships USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62), USS Cowpens (CG 63), USS Shiloh (CG 67), USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54), Stethem (DDG 63), USS John S. McCain (DDG 56), USS Blue Ridge (LCC 19) gathered at the Yokosuka waterfront to hear Mabus express his gratitude for their efforts in Operation Tomodachi in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan March 11.
“To be as flexible as you were to go from one mission to suddenly turn and do humanitarian assistance and disaster relief without costs, without changing any equipment, any people, changing any training and going from your normal day-to-day jobs without any hesitation and doing it so well, no other country can do that and no other service can do that like the people here,” Mabus said.
Within hours of the earthquake and resulting tsunami that impacted Japan on March 11, most of the U.S. 7th Fleet was on the move, positioning ships and aircraft to assist Japan’s Self Defense Forces in an operation that would become the largest in their history.
The U.S. Navy brought 22 ships, 132 aircraft and more than 15,000 personnel to bear one of the most complex disaster relief operations ever conducted: Operation Tomodachi, or “friends.”
In the days and weeks that followed, 7th Fleet forces delivered more than 260 tons of relief supplies to groups of isolated people ashore. They systematically mapped and cleared harbors from obstuctions to navigation, provided fuel and supplies to Japanese ships and aircraft, and searched more than 2,000 square miles of ocean in a concerted effort to find the remains of victims.
“There is no other force in the world other than the United States Navy and Marine Corps that could have done what you all did,” Mabus said.
Mabus said that Operation Tomodachi demonstrated the U.S. commitment to its alliance with Japan.
“The partnership between America and Japan was made stronger because of what you did,” Mabus said.
Following the all hands call, Mabus took questions from the collection of Sailors and Marines and took the time to personally meet with many of them
USS Shiloh Fire Controlman 2nd Class Michael Dukes, a native of Mabus' home state of Mississippi, met the SECNAV and shook his hand, saying, “It's nice to see someone from Mississippi in such a successful position. It's inspiring for me to meet him.”
US 7th Fleet
