US destroyers train with Japanese, South Korean warships

After North Korea conducted live-fire exercises ahead of the arrival of the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, the U.S. Navy announced it was exercising with navies from both Japan and South Korea.

The U.S. Navy said its ships were conducting simultaneous bilateral maritime exercises with the Republic of Korea Navy and with the Japan Maritime Self Defense Force on April 25 and 26.

The destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) and ROKN Wang Geon (DDH 978) are conducting combined maritime exercises in waters west of the Korean Peninsula while the destroyers USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) and JMSDF JS Chokai (DDG 176) execute combined maritime exercises in waters west of Japan.

Wayne E. Meyer is on a regularly scheduled Western Pacific deployment as part of the Carl Vinson carrier strike group and the U.S. Pacific Fleet-led initiative to extend the command and control functions of U.S. 3rd Fleet into the Indo-Asia-Pacific.

Forward-deployed Fitzgerald is part of Destroyer Squadron 15, which operates from Yokosuka, Japan.