A top US admiral wants the powerful Third Fleet to expand its engagement in the Western Pacific region from its headquarters in San Diego by operating more closely with the Japan-based Seventh Fleet to focus on areas with the "greatest instability".
In two recent speeches that received little media attention, US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Scott Swift questioned the need for an administrative boundary running along the international date line to demarcate operations for the Seventh Fleet in the Western Pacific and the Third Fleet to the east.
In an early sign of a shift in strategy, US naval officials said Third Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Nora Tyson rather than her Seventh Fleet counterpart would represent the US Navy at the Japan Fleet Review on October 18, a display of Japanese naval power held every three years.
"I would not be surprised to see more of Vice Admiral Tyson operating forward as part of this concept development process," Swift said in a speech on September 7 during a visit to the Seventh Fleet headquarters in Yokosuka, Japan.
Any change would not mean the relocation of headquarters or home ports, but would allow the two fleets to work together in "areas with the greatest instability", Swift said, without elaborating.
His remarks coincide with growing tension over China's territorial ambitions in Asia's disputed waters, especially in the South China Sea, where Beijing is building seven artificial islands that include three airstrips.
Swift was away from his headquarters in Hawaii and not immediately available to comment, his office said.
A US Pacific Fleet naval official told Reuters the idea was to scrap the administrative boundary but that it was at the conceptual stage. He said the plan revolved around the Third Fleet "operating forward", which is naval terminology for conducting patrols and missions in distant theatres.
It would formalise and expand the Third Fleet's role in the Western Pacific from a command and control perspective, said the official on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
"We're not sure how often or when that would manifest at this point," he added.
When operating west of the international date line the Third Fleet's vessels have typically come under Seventh Fleet command, US Naval officials said.
They said closer integration between the two fleets was separate from US President Barack Obama's "pivot" to Asia, which will see 60 percent of the US Navy's assets deployed in the Pacific region by 2020.
One Asia security expert, Mira Rapp-Hooper at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, cautioned against reading too much into the move.