Month: July 2024

Source: United States Navy

The mission commenced on July 15, with U.S. and Japanese Self Defense Forces (JSDF) service members conducting meet and greets and information exchanges with the Vanuatu medical staff at the Port Vila Central Hospital. Pacific Partnership 2024-2 will enable participants, including U.S. and Ni-Vanuatu people, to work together to enhance disaster response capabilities and foster new and enduring friendships.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with the government and people of Vanuatu, engaging in subject matter expert exchanges focusing on medical care, disaster relief, and community outreach,” said Capt. Daniel Keeler, mission commander for Pacific Partnership 2024-2. “Establishing these international and interagency relationships is crucial for enhancing our preparedness during crises and bolstering our emergency response capabilities. Moreover, the joint conclusion of the Pacific Partnership Vanuatu closing ceremony paired with the inauguration of the U.S. Embassy in Vanuatu underscores our steadfast dedication to the nation and the broader Indo-Pacific region.”

The Pacific Partnership 2024-2 Vanuatu closing ceremony and U.S. Embassy opening was conducted on July 19, 2024 in front of the new embassy office near downtown Port Vila.

“As an active duty Navy sailor tasked with establishing a new U.S. Embassy in Vanuatu, I couldn’t be more proud of the Pacific Partnership team here. This particular group demonstrated great agility in accomplishing the mission and much more,” said Capt Mark Asuncion. “The meaning of partnership rose to a much greater level this week with the opening of the U.S. Embassy in Port Vila, built to enhance a strategic alliance.”

During the past week in Vanuatu, Pacific Partnership led a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) workshop with international civil and military communities including the

Vanuatu Ministry of Climate Change, the National Disaster Management Office and local law enforcement agencies. Medical teams conducted multinational exchanges, infection prevention and control, hands on demonstrations and life support training. Host nation outreach events included engagements with faith leaders, non-governmental organizations and schools, as well as musical performances by Vanuatu Mobile Force, Japanese Self Defense Forces and U.S. Navy band members.

The PP24-2 mission also includes stops in the Federated States of Micronesia, Philippines and Vietnam. Events are synchronized with the host nation and are organized according to their requests and needs.

Born out of the devastation brought by the December 2004 tsunami that swept through parts of South and Southeast Asia, Pacific Partnership began as a military-led humanitarian response to one of the world’s most catastrophic natural disasters. Building on the success and goodwill of this operation the U.S. helped spearhead the inaugural Pacific Partnership mission in 2006. This mission leveraged partner nation militaries and Non-Governmental Organization’s proficiencies to expand disaster relief capacity in Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and Timor-Leste.

Pacific Partnership, now in its 20th iteration, is the largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific. Each year the mission team works collectively with host and partner nations to enhance regional interoperability and disaster response capabilities, increase security and stability in the region, and foster new and enduring friendships in the Indo-Pacific.

For more information about Pacific Partnership visit, www.clwp.navy.mil/Pacific-Partnership.

Source: United States Navy

The Honorable Carlos Del Toro, Secretary of the Navy, made the announcement on the 80th anniversary of an explosion that occurred at Port Chicago Naval Magazine in California. The explosion killed 320 people, injured 400 others, destroyed two ships and a train, and caused damage to the nearby town of Port Chicago.

Secretary Del Toro expressed his deepest condolences for the Sailors, civilians, Coast Guardsmen, members of the U.S. Maritime Service, and one Marine who lost their lives and for their family members.

Following the 1944 explosion, white supervising officers at Port Chicago were given hardship leave while the surviving African-American Sailors were ordered back to work. The circumstances surrounding the disaster were reflective of the Navy’s personnel policies at the time, which barred African-American Sailors from nearly all seagoing jobs. Most of the Navy ordnance battalions assigned to Port Chicago Naval Magazine and similar facilities were comprised of African-American enlisted personnel and white officers.

In the absence of clarity on the explosions or further safety training, 258 African-American Sailors refused to resume ammunition handling. After threats of disciplinary action, 208 of the Sailors returned to work; however, the Navy still subsequently convicted all 208 Sailors at a summary court-martial for disobeying orders.

The Navy sentenced each of the summary court-martial defendants to a Bad Conduct Discharge and forfeiture of three month’s pay. During subsequent reviews of the summary court-martial, the Bad Conduct Discharges were suspended, the forfeitures reduced, and one conviction was set aside for insufficient evidence.

The remaining 50 Sailors continued to refuse to return to work and were charged with mutiny. The Navy later convicted all 50 Sailors (who came to be called the “Port Chicago 50”) of mutiny at a mass general court-martial. Each of these defendants was sentenced to a Dishonorable Discharge, fifteen years confinement at hard labor, reduction in rate to E-1, and total forfeitures of their pay.

During subsequent reviews of the general court-martial, the Dishonorable Discharges were suspended and the period of confinement was reduced from 15 years to 17-29 months. One conviction was also set aside for mental incompetency. By January 1946, nearly all the Sailors were released and given the opportunity to finish their contracts.

“The Port Chicago 50, and the hundreds who stood with them, may not be with us today, but their story lives on, a testament to the enduring power of courage and the unwavering pursuit of

justice,” said Secretary Del Toro. “They stand as a beacon of hope, forever reminding us that even in the face of overwhelming odds, the fight for what’s right can and will prevail.”

After a thorough review of the case and related materials, the General Counsel of the Navy concluded that there were significant legal errors during the courts-martial. The defendants were improperly tried together despite conflicting interests and denied a meaningful right to counsel.

The courts-martial also occurred before the Navy’s Court of Inquiry report on the Port Chicago explosion was finalized, which certainly would have informed their defense and contained nineteen substantive recommendations to improve ammunition loading practices.

Following the Navy’s most recent review, Secretary Del Toro fully exonerated the remaining 256 defendants of the 1944 Port Chicago general and summary courts-martial.

If any family members of the defendants of the 1944 Port Chicago general and summary courts-martial would like to reach out to the Department of the Navy for future notifications on the topic or more information, please reach out to PortChicago@us.navy.mil, or 703-697-5342.

For questions related to this release, contact the U.S. Navy Office of Information at CHINFONewsDesk@us.navy.mil or 703-697-5342.

Source: United States Navy

During the proceedings, the Commanding Officer of Navy and Marine Corps Force Health Protection Command, Capt. Marion Gregg, guest speaker for the event, also presented Sutherland with a Meritorious Service Medal.

In the true fashion of an entomologist, Sutherland gave his remarks at the ceremony with the help of some insects. To commemorate the U.S. Navy’s 248th year of existence, Sutherland had 248 Aedes aegypti mosquitoes released inside of a seven-foot cube to join him during his speech. To NECE’s knowledge, this is the first-time mosquitoes have been utilized in a change of charge ceremony.

NECE plays a critical role in safeguarding the health and operational readiness of naval forces. NECE’s mission revolves around providing expertise in entomology and pest management to ensure the health, safety, and operational effectiveness of Navy forces worldwide. This includes developing strategies for pest control aboard ships, submarines, and naval installations. NECE also provides operational medical entomology and pest management training to DOD military and civilian personnel and is the program manager for all Navy shipboard pest management. NECE plays a key role in supporting national strategic interests though engagement and exchange with foreign health and military partners.

Source: United States Navy

The ASC employees will be trained and certified on various aspects of submarine maintenance to support the AUKUS Pillar 1 program that is supporting Australia’s acquisition of sovereign conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines.
“After months of preparation, we are excited to welcome the Australian maintainers into our shipyard family. The intensive training process they will undergo over the next few years will lay the groundwork for them to ultimately lead and execute their own maintenance operations,” said Capt. Ryan McCrillis, commanding officer of PHNSY & IMF.

In July 2023, PHNSY & IMF was chosen as the Naval Supervising Authority and Lead Maintenance Activity for Submarine Rotational Force – West (SRF-W) at HMAS Stirling in Western Australia. SRF-W will host up to four U.S. Virginia-class submarines and one UK Astute-class submarine, starting as early as 2027. Routine intermediate maintenance work, which does not require dry-docking the submarines and takes weeks – rather than months or years – to complete, will be planned and executed by ASC’s trained workforce and certified by PHNSY & IMF personnel.

“Conducting joint training and working side-by-side with our Australian colleagues is critical to building the essential knowledge needed to fully support SRF-W,” McCrillis added. “This training evolution, which focuses on technical maintenance skills, strengthens our own readiness, ensuring warfighters are equipped to carry out their complex mission.”

The first cohort of ASC personnel will receive a mix of classroom instruction and hands-on experience covering radiological controls, nuclear engineering, non-nuclear engineering and quality assurance. The training durations will vary based on the specific trades and disciplines being taught. Once they complete their training, the ASC personnel will return to Australia appropriately qualified and skilled to conduct Virginia-class maintenance, under U.S. supervision, during routine U.S. submarine port visits to HMAS Stirling. Australia and the United States expect more than 100 ASC personnel to start training at PHNSY & IMF over the next twelve months.

“We are ushering in a new era for our submarine maintenance workforce,” said Rear Adm. Matt Buckley, Head of Nuclear Submarine Capability within the Australian Submarine Agency. “By leveraging the U.S. and UK’s decades-long expertise, we are learning from the best to develop our own world-class sovereign nuclear-powered, conventionally armed submarine force. The 28 ASC personnel, combined with more than thirty Royal Australian Navy personnel who joined the crew of U.S. submarine tender USS Emory S. Land (AS 39) this year, represent the cornerstone of our future submarine force maintenance workforce.”

“The AUKUS partners share a commitment stretching back over a century to preserving democracy and maintaining an international rules-based order,” said Rear Adm. Lincoln Reifsteck, program manager, AUKUS Integration and Acquisition Office. “Thanks to bipartisan Congressional support last year to pass legislation allowing us to train Australian maintenance personnel in our public shipyards, we continue to make progress toward establishing Australia’s sovereign, conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered submarine force in support of our shared vision of a free, open, and stable Indo-Pacific.”

PHNSY & IMF is also hiring additional personnel to support training hundreds of Australian maintainers.

“The shipyard is growing, so we will continue to hire to meet the needs of our fleet while adding additional personnel to support the increased training demand,” said McCrillis. “Our efforts will not only support Australia’s goal to build a sovereign SSN capability, but also provide real benefits to the U.S. Navy mission in the Indo-Pacific.”

PHNSY & IMF is a field activity of NAVSEA and a one-stop regional maintenance center for the Navy’s surface ships and submarines. It is the largest industrial employer in the state of Hawai’i, with a combined civilian and military workforce of approximately 6,400. It is the most comprehensive fleet repair and maintenance facility between the U.S. West Coast and the Far East, strategically located in the heart of the Pacific, being about a week’s steaming time closer to potential regional contingencies in the Indo-Pacific.

The AUKUS Integration and Acquisition Program Office is responsible for executing the trilateral partnership to support Australia’s acquisition of sovereign, conventionally armed, nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines at the earliest possible date while setting the highest nuclear stewardship standards and continuing to maintain the highest nonproliferation standard. The AUKUS partnership is a strategic endeavor that will uplift the industrial bases of the three partners and promote a safe, free and open Indo-Pacific, ensuring an international, rules-based order is upheld in the region.
To learn about AUKUS Pillar 1 and the Optimal Pathway, visit —- FACT SHEET: Trilateral Australia-UK-US Partnership on Nuclear-Powered Submarines | The White House