Roosevelt Breaks a Four-Year Absence in Yokosuka

The carrier strike group arrived in Japan after a 19-day Pacific crossing, trailing a drone boat that may be reshaping how the Navy deploys.

By The Defense Desk

USS Theodore Roosevelt docked at Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka on October 16, becoming the first non-resident U.S. carrier to visit the port in more than four years. [1][2]

Roosevelt and guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin will participate in exercise Keen Sword 27, a premier joint-bilateral field training exercise designed to increase readiness and interoperability between the Japan Self-Defense Forces and U.S. military forces. [1] The five-ship CSG 9 is operating disaggregated — a standard practice for strike groups running multiple missions simultaneously. [1]

The deployment carries a less-publicized subplot: medium unmanned surface vessel Seahawk appears to have deployed alongside CSG 9, which would mark the first time a drone boat has been assigned to a carrier strike group. [1] Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao told an AUSA convention panel that "the Teddy Roosevelt carrier strike group just deployed on October 8 with a medium sized unmanned surface vessel. This is the first carrier strike group to ever deploy with a large size unmanned surface vessel." He added, "This is a force multiplier, imagine having more guns out there." [1]

The quiet addition of an autonomous surface vessel to a carrier group signals something larger than a single deployment — a shift in what naval presence actually looks like.

[1] CVW-9 flew 14,037 sorties and dropped more than 1.37 million pounds of ordnance during the cruise. [1]

Three U.S. carriers are now deployed simultaneously across two theaters. [1] How Seahawk fits into that picture — and whether it joins Roosevelt for Keen Sword 27 — remains the open question of the week.