USS Ronald Reagan leaves its Japan home port after nearly 9 years
A U.S. Navy strike group’s flagship aircraft carrier has left its Japanese home port, wrapping up nearly nine years of deployment in the Indo-Pacific, where it served a key role in the U.S. effort to bolster defense ties with Japan and other partners in the region
By Eugene Hoshiko And Mari Yamaguchi
Published - May 16, 2024, 11:11 PM ET
Last Updated - May 27, 2024, 12:31 AM EDT
YOKOSUKA, Japan (AP) — A U.S. Navy strike group's flagship aircraft carrier left its Japanese home port on Thursday, wrapping up nearly nine years of deployment in the Indo-Pacific, where it served a key role in the U.S. effort to bolster defense ties with Japan and other partners in the region.
The departure of USS Ronald Reagan — one of America’s largest warships and a nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier — comes at a time of growing tension in the face of increasingly assertive China in the Indo-Pacific.
Family members and friends of the crew were on hand to wave the carrier off from Yokosuka Naval Base after its final patrolling mission earlier in the day.
