SASEBO, Japan - The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey (DDG 105), with embarked Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 35 “Magicians,” joined up with the Wasp Expeditionary Strike Group March 12 following the ship’s port visit in Sasebo.
Dewey is scheduled to participate with the Wasp ESG in a series of training events that will test its ability to conduct defense of the Wasp and associated amphibious ships against air, surface, and subsurface threats.
Dewey’s sensors, weapons systems, and tactical watchstanders give the guided-missile destroyer the capability to track and neutralize adversarial forces across a multitude of warfare domains.
“This is a great opportunity for us to bring the Marine Corps and Navy together,” said Cmdr. Anthony Webber, Dewey’s commanding officer. “By adding destroyers to the strike group, we continue to flex our capability to be the kind of Navy our nation needs.”
Dewey left Sasebo March 10 after completing a port visit in which the San Diego-based crew was able to experience Japanese culture and volunteering at a local elderly home.
Wasp recently embarked the F-35B Lightning II with Fighter Attack Squadron 121 (VMFA-121), assigned under the Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit.
Of one of the many warfighting capabilities, Dewey has the ability to coordinate air defense leveraging the F-35B, which will be one of the many training events while Dewey works with the Wasp ESG.
Seventh Fleet, which is celebrating its 75th year in 2018, spans more than 124 million square kilometers, stretching from the International Date Line to the India/Pakistan border; and from the Kuril Islands in the North to the Antarctic in the South. Seventh Fleet's area of operation encompasses 36 maritime countries and 50 percent of the world’s population with between 50-70 U.S. ships and submarines, 140 aircraft, and approximately 20,000 Sailors in the 7th Fleet.