A Russian-Chinese flotilla sailed toward the Northern Pacific Ocean on Monday while the United States deployed two warships for homeland defense operations to protect Alaska.
According to the Japanese Defense Ministry, a total of nine Russian and Chinese warships transited the La Perouse Strait, a designated international waterway known as the Soya Strait, eastward from the Sea of Japan to the Sea of Okhotsk from Sunday to Monday.
The Russian-Chinese naval formation would reach the wider Northern Pacific Ocean by sailing further to the east and passing through Russia’s Kuril Islands. The warships would also arrive near the Aleutian Islands of Alaska if they were on a northeastward voyage.
The joint naval sailing by Russia and China came as the U.S. Navy deployed cruiser USS Lake Erie and destroyer USS Sterett to the Northern Pacific Ocean and the Aleutian Islands, respectively, while the U.S. Army sent three units to the remote Shemya Island of the archipelago.
The Lake Erie, which is homeported in San Diego, California, has conducted what the Navy called homeland defense operations in the Northern Pacific Ocean since September 18. It was still underway in the area as of Sunday, according to photos released by the service.
Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Samantha Rosales/U.S. Navy
The San Diego-based Sterett departed on September 2 to patrol the Bering Sea, according to Politico. It moored in Dutch Harbor on Amaknak Island of the Aleutian archipelago on September 13 and 18 during its homeland defense operations in the area.
The U.S. Northern Command, which is responsible for homeland defense, confirmed to Politico in a statement that the Sterett was sent to support the command’s “maritime homeland defense mission” in response to the known Russian exercise in the region.
U.S. Navy/Lieutenant Junior Grade Andrew Forrest
The Northern/Interaction-2024, an exercise held by China in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk, began its second phase, the Chinese navy and the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Saturday. The first stage of the drill was held from September 11 to 15.
The Chinese warships that took part in the exercise were destroyers Wuxi and Xining, frigate Linyi and replenishment ship Taihu, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry and Chinese state media. They were under the Chinese military‘s Northern Theater Command.
The Russian military also sent four warships under the command of the country’s Pacific Fleet for the exercise. They were destroyers Admiral Panteleyev and Admiral Tributs, as well as corvettes MPK-107 and MPK-82, the Russian Pacific Fleet revealed on Saturday.
The eight warships left Vladivostok, a major port in the Russian Far East region, for exercise. Meanwhile, a fifth Chinese naval vessel, Type 815A electronic surveillance ship Tianlangxing, was also spotted by the Japanese military underway in the La Perouse Strait.
The Chinese Defense Ministry announced on September 9 that its warships would conduct the fifth joint patrol in the Pacific Ocean with their Russian counterparts since 2021. The last patrol between the two was in July in the Western Pacific Ocean.
In August 2023, a total of 11 Russian and Chinese warships approached the Aleutian Islands during their combined naval patrol in the surrounding international waters. They were tracked by four American destroyers and P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.
Japan’s defense ministry
The military presence of Russia and China in the air and waters around Alaska has been growing. The quasi-alliance sent four bombers to the Alaska air defense zone on July 24, when the U.S. and Canada scrambled fighter jets to intercept them.
From September 11 to 15, a total of four groups of Russian military aircraft flew within the Alaska air defense zone while Russia was conducting the strategic exercise Ocean-2024.
Four Russian naval vessels, including two nuclear-powered submarines, were operated on September 15 in the Chukchi Sea near Alaska, where they transited into 30 miles into the U.S. economic waters to avoid sea ice on the Russian side of the Maritime Boundary Line.
Besides naval cooperation, Russia and China have been conducted a joint coast guard exercise and patrol mission near Vladivostok and in the Northern Pacific Ocean since September 16.
