US 7th Fleet

The United States 7th Fleet is a naval military unit based in Yokosuka, Japan. It is administratively under CINCPACFLT, along with having units near South Korea and Japan.

The 7th Fleet participated in the Pacific Theatre of World War II, fighting in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. It proceeded to participate in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Afterwards, it conducted operations near North Vietnam, and participated in no major combat action until the Persian Gulf War, wherein it was placed under the command of NAVCENT (Naval Forces, U.S. Central Command). After the war ended, it was returned to the Pacific Fleet.

At present it is the largest of the forward-deployed U.S. fleets, with 50-60 ships, 350 aircraft and 60,000 Navy and Marine Corps personnel. The Seventh Fleet, with the support of its Task Force Commanders, performs three major assignments:

• Joint Task Force commander in the event of natural disaster or joint military operation
• Operational commander for all naval forces in the region
• Defense of the Korean peninsula.

Of the 50-60 ships typically assigned to Seventh Fleet, 18 operate from U.S. facilities in Japan and Guam. These forward-deployed units represent the heart of Seventh Fleet. The 18 permanently forward-deployed ships of the US 7th Fleet are the centerpieces of American forward presence in Asia. They are 17 steaming days closer to locations in Asia than their counterparts based in the continental United States. It would take three to five times the number of rotationally based ships in the United States to equal the same presence and crisis response capability as these 18 forward deployed ships. On any given day, about 50 percent of Seventh Fleet forces are deployed at sea throughout the area of responsibility. The Seventh Fleet Command Ship is the USS Blue Ridge, forward deployed to Yokosuka, Japan.