US deploys LCS patrol ship to Northeast Asia for the first time
On February 17, US Navy Rear Admiral Charles Williams said that the US will deploy a littoral combat ship (LCS) to Northeast Asia for the first time since Washington began sending LCS ships to Asia in 2013.
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| US Coast Guard cutter USS Fort Worth |
The USS Fort Worth will leave Singapore this week for Northeast Asia to participate in an exercise with South Korea later this year and visit Japan, Williams said.
The USS Fort Worth is the second LCS that the US Navy has deployed to Singapore. The USS Fort Worth was assigned to the 7th Fleet and arrived in Singapore in late 2014 for a 16-month deployment, replacing the USS Freedom, the first LCS to arrive in Singapore.
Unlike the USS Freedom, which operated primarily in Southeast Asia during a 10-month mission in 2013, the USS Fort Worth will be on a 16-month rotation and will also operate in Northeast Asia.
In addition, General Williams also said that there will be 4 US LCS ships operating in Singapore before the end of 2018, an increase of 1 ship compared to the current. The "rotational deployment" of LCS takes place in the context of China continuing to show off its power in the South China Sea (East Sea) and tensions continuing on the Korean peninsula./.
According to Vietnamplus
