The U.S. Navy destroyer that sailed near Chinese-claimed islands in South China Sea last week was under orders from the Third Fleet headquarters in San Diego, a first aimed at bolstering U.S. maritime power in the region, two sources said.
The USS Decatur on Friday challenged China's "excessive maritime claims" near the Paracel Islands, part of a string of islets, reefs and shoals over which Beijing has territorial disputes with its neighbors.
It was the first time such a freedom of navigation operation has been conducted without the Japan-based Seventh Fleet in command and was a test of changes aimed to allow the U.S. Navy to conduct maritime operations on two fronts in Asia at the same time, two sources told Reuters. The sources spoke on condition they weren't identified.
Having the Third Fleet regularly command vessels in Asia, which it has not done since World War Two, means the U.S. Navy can better conduct simultaneous operations such as on the Korean peninsula and in the Philippines, said one of the sources, who is familiar with the goals of the reorganization.
