A top US Navy admiral wants the powerful Third Fleet to expand its engagement in the Western Pacific from its headquarters in San Diego, California, by operating more closely with the Japan-based Seventh Fleet to focus on areas with the “greatest instability.”
In two recent speeches that received little media attention, US Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Scott Swift questioned the need for an administrative boundary running along the international date line to demarcate operations for the Seventh Fleet in the Western Pacific and the Third Fleet to the east.
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 US Navy at the Japanese fleet review on Oct. 18, a display of Japanese naval power held every three years.
“I would not be surprised to see more of Vice Admiral Tyson operating forward as part of this concept development process,” Swift said in a speech on Sept. 7 during a visit to Seventh Fleet headquarters in Yokosuka, Japan.
Any change would not mean the relocation of headquarters or home ports, but would allow the two fleets to work together in “areas with the greatest instability,” Swift said, without elaborating.
His remarks coincide with growing tension over China’s territorial ambitions in Asia’s disputed waters, especially in the South China Sea, where Beijing is building several artificial islands that include three airstrips.
Swift was away from his headquarters in Hawaii and not immediately available to comment, his office said.
A US Pacific Fleet naval official told reporters the idea was to scrap the administrative boundary, but that it was at the conceptual stage. He said the plan revolved around the Third Fleet “operating forward,” which is naval terminology for conducting patrols and missions in distant theaters.
It would formalize and expand the Third Fleet’s role in the Western Pacific from a command and control perspective, the official said on condition of anonymity, because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
“We’re not sure how often or when that would manifest at this point,” he added.
When operating west of the international date line, Third Fleet’s vessels have typically come under Seventh Fleet command, US naval officials said.
They said closer integration between the two fleets was separate from US President Barack Obama’s “pivot” to Asia, which is to see 60 percent of the US Navy’s assets deployed in the Pacific by 2020.
Washington-based Center for a New American Security Asia security expert Mira Rapp-Hooper cautioned against reading too much into the move.
“The Third Fleet may become more present symbolically in the Asia-Pacific [region], but I am not sure that this has major strategic implications, say for the US-Japan relationship ... at least based on what I understand thus far,” Rapp-Hooper said.
The Seventh Fleet has the US’ only forward deployed aircraft carrier strike group, along with 80 other vessels, 140 aircraft and 40,000 sailors.
The Third Fleet has more than 100 vessels, including four aircraft carriers. It was formed in 1943 under the command of US Navy fleet admiral William Halsey to fight the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II. Japanese officials officially surrendered aboard its then flagship, the USS Missouri, just over 70 years ago.
In a speech on July 24 at Third Fleet headquarters in San Diego, Swift drew on that history.
“It is my intent to underscore the legacy of fleet admiral Halsey ... by enabling Vice Admiral Tyson to more fully employ her fleet forward,” he said. “I question why we are so allegiant to the international date line as a line of demarcation between the two most powerful numbered fleets in the world.”
Swift’s drive to integrate their operations comes as Japan pulls back from seven decades of state pacifism with the passage this month of legislation that will allow its navy to work more closely with its US counterpart.
A key feature of the new laws is an end to a ban on exercising the right of collective self-defense, or defending the US or another friendly country that comes under attack in cases where Japan faces a “threat to its survival.”
Extending the Third Fleet’s command to Asia would likely mean tighter cooperation between US naval commanders based in the Eastern Pacific and Japanese naval officers, who already work closely with the Seventh Fleet, the US Pacific Fleet naval official said.
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
RSS