Sailors on the amphibious assault ship USS America and Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit prepare to man the rails during a port call at Busan, South Korea, on Sept. 5, 2024. (Cole Pursley/U.S. Navy)
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan – The amphibious assault ship USS America stopped in South Korea last week, its first-ever visit to the country in the ship’s nearly 10-year history, according to the Navy.
The ship made a port call in Busan, a coastal city about 200 miles southeast of Seoul, between Sept. 5 and Saturday, according to Task Force 76 spokesman Lt. Cmdr. John Mike.
The America was in the region for the Ssangyong 2024 exercise alongside its sister ship, USS Boxer, and South Korean amphibious assault ships ROKS Dokdo and ROKS Marado, he told Stars and Stripes by email Monday.
“The USS Boxer and USS America Amphibious Ready Groups have been providing U.S. 7th Fleet with combat credible forces to preserve peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific,” Mike wrote. “Their participation in Ssang Yong 24 demonstrated our commitment to the [U.S.-South Korea] Alliance and bolstering security on the peninsula and preserving regional stability.”
He did not elaborate on additional ships that participated in Ssangyong.
The America and the Boxer, which resemble smaller versions of aircraft carriers, can carry fifth-generation F-35B Lightning II multirole jets as part of embarked Marine expeditionary units. The two amphibious assault ships are acting as placeholders for larger carriers currently absent from the Indo-Pacific.
The aircraft carrier USS George Washington, now operating from Naval Base San Diego, is expected this year to arrive at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan, as lead ship of a 7th Fleet carrier strike group, replacing the USS Ronald Reagan.
Another amphibious assault ship, the USS Iwo Jima, returned to Naval Station Norfolk, Va., last week due to a major mechanical failure, one of three like incidents, so far, this year, Military.com reported Friday. The USS Wasp, another amphibious assault ship, returned to Norfolk in March with a damaged propeller shaft, according to the report.
The Boxer experienced a similar incident in April, when it returned to San Diego with a damaged rudder. The Wasp, Iwo Jima and Boxer are all Wasp-class ships; the America, homeported at Sasebo Naval Base, Japan, is first of its class.
Around 9,500 Marines and sailors and 3,500 of their South Korean counterparts participated in the Ssangyong exercise, which primarily took place in Pohang, about 150 miles south of Seoul. This year’s iteration included the first-ever deployment of a combined U.S.-South Korean battle staff, which oversaw amphibious operations from the Marado, Mike said.
The staff “assessed command-and-control capabilities” and developed lessons learned for future operations, he added.
“The importance of Ssang Yong is represented in its name,” Mike wrote. “It means ‘twin dragons’ and signifies [U.S.-South Korean] combat readiness and interoperability through bilateral training.”
The U.S. military uses the term interoperability to describe the ability the ability of one country’s armed forces to use another’s training methods, strategies and equipment.
Additional firsts included the inaugural use of the Marine Corps’ recently introduced amphibious combat vehicle on the Korean Peninsula and bringing two Marine Expeditionary units to bear, rather than one.
